Song of the Alchemist
by Figurine889
Summary: Having gotten lost on his way back from a mission from that no-good Mustang, Edward thought all was lost. Until he met the Casull's and a whole new mess of problems arose. Rated "T" for language.
1. Chapter 1 And So They Meet

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 1: And So They Meet

The road less taken. That was certainly what I would call this path. Clearly not made for the rare cars you saw the bureaucrats driving in the cities, the path was thin and covered in dirt with only the tracks from the farmers wagons to guide you. Grass? Get real. That had disappeared a few miles back. The occasional patch sprung up here and there, but what little there was, was either dead or dying.

I don't know what made me decide to take this path. Maybe it was the lecture I knew was waiting for me in Central from my superior officer Colonel Mustang. Yeah, that must be it. Anything to stall. I could always tell him I got lost. Which is actually true, if you think about it. He had sent me on a mission way out in the boonies (even further then my hometown), to a place I had never even heard of before. I very strongly believe that he just wanted to get me out of his office, so he picked the first spot he saw on the map of Amistris hanging in his office.

Now that the mission is complete though, I was supposed to head home-well, back to Central anyway. My home is long gone. The problem was that I was so far out in the boonies that no trains ran here. I had to take a train to the nearest station (about a day and a half walk), then hitch a ride. Of course Colonel Pain-In-My-Ass couldn't spring to send a car to pick me up. No way.

The one car I had managed to coax into giving me a lift to so far away a location promptly broke down after we arrived and was conveniently fixed later that night. I saw it drive hurriedly out of town from my little hotel window (don't get me started on the hotel situation). Thus, my ride was gone. I suppose I could have transmuted a car or some sort of bike, but the ride was so rough in the car I came in. I shudder to think what it would be like to do it myself. Besides, the town was lacking one key element. Cars are made of metal. Everything in that town was made of wood. All completed with what was once a forest that surrounded the town. Once I arrived, I quickly became the most metallic thing there.

Needless to say, I (stupidly) decided to hoof it on my own feet. How long could it take anyway?

I left the town on a Tuesday.

What's today? It's Tuesday.

One. Week. Later.

I didn't realize how many forks there were on this thing they call a road. Or maybe I just made one wrong turn and got this forked path.

No way am I gonna admit to Mustang I got lost though. If he asks, I found a lead on the stone that happened to fall through. Yeah. I just won't tell Al.

Alphonse, luckily, isn't with me. I made him stay back in Central since I THOUGHT this was going to be a simple mission. Course not though. Mustang can never give me an easy assignment. That would be generous, and I'm convinced he doesn't know how to spell the word, let alone know the meaning.

So here I was, lost on this little dirt path.

_GGGRRROOOOWWWWWLLLLLL_

Okay. Lost on a little dirt path, and STARVING.

Mustang was going to pay for this.

At least I packed light. Again, believing this was going to be a cut-and-dry case, I only brought my silver pocket watch, my little coded journal and my coat-which I'm loving by the way, since it keeps the blowing dirt away from my automail. Winry would kill me if I ruined it because I got caught in a dust storm. It would almost be worse to face her with that problem then getting it blown to pieces by a serial killer.

Almost.

_GGGRRROOOOWWWWWLLLLLL_

As my stomach has so tactfully reminded me, it's time for me to eat. Time to rely on that pre-training month on that island. However, looking around, all I saw was dirt. And, oh look. It's an animal skeleton. At least that proves something used live here.

I continue walking, thoughts of stew and apple pie filling my mind.

"Are we there yet?"

Was that a girl's voice?

"No, now sit down."

My head spun around, looking for the source. That was defiantly a guy's voice I just heard.

"But I'm hungry! And I'm tired! I wanna sleep in a bed tonight!"

"Oh," this was a different girl's voice. "It looks like according to this map, there aren't any towns near here."

"There. Looks like we're camping out."

I looked up at the sky. It was starting to get a little pink. Maybe I should consider making a little camp too. Suddenly I find myself wishing Alphonse was here.

"No way Shannon!" Man, this girl is whinny. "Come on! I want a bed! With a soft pillow and blankets!"

"Look you-"

"Hey! Who's that?" The second girl asked, making me finally turn around. About fifty yards behind me (yes fifty-the occupants were speaking very loudly), was a small wagon driven by two horses. A male held the reigns and a young female sat next to him calmly. Both had black hair. Pushing between them was a younger blonde girl with bright blue eyes. She reminded me of Winry.

"HEY THERE!" The blonde yelled to me, waving an arm above her head. The two on either side of her cringed away from her loud voice in their ears.

I stopped and waited for the wagon to pull up beside me (I had to step off the road, lest I get run over by one of the large horses), rather then yell back to them.

"Hi!" the blonde exclaimed.

I smiled. "Hey! Boy am I glad to see you. I was just on my way back to Central when I got...sidetracked. Think you can give me a lift?"

The male narrowed his eyes as if he were studying me.

"Central?" The older female asked, twisting her head on it's side.

I nodded. "Yeah. I have to get there to make a report." At this, the male tensed.

"You're in the army?" he asked through his teeth.

I nodded proudly and pulled out my pocket watch. "That's right! You may have heard of me!" I pointed a thumb to my chest and smiled widely. "Edward Elric. The Fullmetal Alchemist."

The male glanced at the woman beside him and they nodded. Then the carriage started to pull away quickly.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" I ran after them. This was the first life besides my own that I had seen in over a week. No way was I letting them get away.

The carriage started to go faster, making it hard for my shor-my perfect-length legs to catch up.

Suddenly the blonde poked her head out the back curtain of the carriage and she smiled at me. I tried to smile back, tried to show I was friendly and that there was no need to run, but I'm pretty sure it came out as a grimace due to my running. The girl winked at me then, and pulled her head back into the wagon. Two seconds later she leapt out of the wagon and walked calmly over to me, like it was the most natural thing in the world. The wagon continued on, as if she had never left.

"Are you sure you should-" I started.

"It'll be fine. Watch this." She dropped to the ground and clutched at her ankle. Then her mouth opened and she let out a howl I was certain the town I had come from had heard. The wagon stopped, and the heads of the other two peeked around the sides.

"PACIFICA!" The boy yelled as he jumped out of his seat. As he started to run towards us, he brandished a long broadsword in his hands. Instinctively, I backed away, not wanting a fight. Looks like that didn't matter to this guy though, since he continued running at me anyway.

I clapped my hands together immediately, and transmuted the top layer of my automail arm into a small sword. At the bright flash, the male stopped, his eyes wide. He didn't stop for long though, and promptly resumed coming after me.

"SHANNON!" The blonde girl yelled as our blades met, sending out sparks. This guy was good. He had complete control over his sword. It was all I could do just to defend myself. Finally though, I decided it was time to stop this fight. It was clear that they had the wrong idea about me, though I couldn't say why.

I dropped to the ground to avoid his next swing and whipped my feet along the dirt to knock him off his, but, the jerk jumped over them!

"What's your problem?" I asked as I rolled to the side. I'd just have to trap him somehow.

He leapt at me with a scowl that reminded me of Mustang on his face. That did it. I clapped my hands together again and slapped them to the ground. There was a bright blue glow, and four tall walls of solid dirt sprung up around the young male, trapping him inside.

"Dammit!" I heard him yell. I snickered, proud of my accomplishment.

"What did you do?" the blonde asked with awe.

"Don't worry, I didn't put a ceiling on it. He can still breath." I walked over to the wall of dirt. "Who are you and why did you attack me?"

The other girl ran up this time, her hand extended out before her. I didn't have time to react before:

"People of the flames, dance!"

A small explosion went off inches from my feet. I leapt back, shock wide on my face.

"Oopsie! I missed Shannon," she called, looking at the walls that held the male.

"Who cares! Just get me out of here so I can kick that pipsqueak's ass!"

Oh no he didn't.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE CAN'T BE SEEN WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS?"

I busted through the dirt wall myself and tackled the male to the ground. Luck was on my side. He obviously hadn't been expecting that, so his shock had made him drop his sword a few feet away. This didn't matter to me at the time though, since I was releasing my anger on his face.

"Stop it!" The two girls struggled to pull me off of the male, who now sported a bloody nose. Heh. Now, more then ever he looked like Mustang.

I (somehow) managed to calm myself, and the girls released me. I straightened my coat and patted the dirt off my clothes.

"What is your problem?" I asked again. The male slowly stood, and wiped some of the blood off his face.

"RUN PACIFICA!" he yelled.  
I rolled my eyes and clapped my hands together. Thin bars of black dirt sprung out of the ground and gathered above each of them, trapping each in their own little prison.

"Cool!" the blonde exclaimed. "How do you do that?"

The male leapt forward and started pulling on the bars, expecting them to give. The funny thing about dirt is, that packed together, along with the many rocks around, it can get pretty hard when transmuted correctly.

"Look," I said, sitting on the ground. All of this was starting to wear me out. "I just wanted you to give me a lift to Central. I was going to let you go when you left," I lied. Like hell was I going to do that, but they didn't need to know. "But you come at me with a sword, I'm going to defend myself."

"You said your name was Edward?" The young woman asked politely.

I nodded. "That's right. I'm a state alchemist. Now, I'd understand if you guys don't like state alchemists, but that's no reason-"

"Alchemists?" the young woman gasped.

The male turned to her. "Raquel?"

"I didn't think alchemists still existed," she explained.

This made me laugh. "Where have you guys been? Under a rock? Alchemy is the science of Amistris."

"Amistris?" the young woman asked again. Suddenly she smiled broadly and looked at the male. "I think we made it!"

He took a deep breath and looked at me. "Have you heard the story of the Scrapped Princess?"

I thought for a moment. It didn't sound familiar. Shaking my head, I answered, "no. Should I?"

All three had smiles now. I returned them. It seemed I had said something right.

"We would be happy to take you to this...Central," the woman told me, "but we're not from around here."

"We're visitors," the blonde chimed.

"Like, from another country?" This seemed pretty obvious now. No wonder that guy had attacked me. He probably thought I was some bandit or something.

The three started to nod slowly.

"So who are you?"

The blonde opened her mouth to answer, but the man spoke up. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Well that was a fair question. "How about, I start by releasing you from your bars, huh? I trust you, you trust me. Equivalent exchange."

The male thought for a moment, then nodded curtly. A flash of light later, the bars were gone back into the ground, as if they had never been there before.

"So this is alchemy," the woman asked in awe.

I smiled and turned to the male. "Your names?"

He studied me for a minute, then pointed to the woman. "That's my sister Raquel, my sister Pacifica and I'm Shannon."

I looked at the blonde, then Shannon and Raquel. While the latter two looked so alike they could be twins, the blond bore no resemblance whatsoever. "Your sister?" I asked, pointing to Pacifica.

"I was adopted," she explained, coming forward.

That explained it. "Your parents?" They all looked pretty young. While it wasn't odd to see young people like them traveling by themselves (just look at me and Al), it did seem odd that siblings would travel together across borders without the aid of some parental figure.

"They died protecting me," Pacifica said quietly.

"Oh. Sorry." Shouldn't have asked.

"And yours?" Shannon asked.

Supposed I walked into that one. They did tell me about their's though...

"My mother died about five years ago. My father left years before that," I added tersely, telling them with my tone that he was the last person I wanted to talk about. "So where are you heading?" I asked before they could question me more about my past.

"We don't really have a destination in mind," Raquel responded.

"Yeah," Pacifica agreed. "We're just kind of going."

I stared at them. Traveling with no place in mind?

"You wouldn't happen to know if there is a town around here, would you?" Pacifica asked. "I'd really like to sleep in a bed."

"I told you we're camping out," Shannon told her, agitation evident in his voice. "We don't have the money."

Raquel smiled. "We don't have money in this county's currency anyway."

"That's right," Shannon agreed. "So we couldn't stay in a hotel anyway."

Finally. Here was something I could trade with them on. "If you give me a lift, I can pay for your hotel at the next town we reach."

Pacifica's face lit up instantly and Raquel smiled politely. Shannon, however, narrowed his eyes. He didn't get a chance to say anything though, for in seconds Pacifica had grabbed my arm and started dragging me back to their wagon.

"Let's go Shannon!" She called once we reached the wagon. "You gonna stand there all night?"

"Oh my," Raquel chuckled as she climbed up into the cabin. Pacifica climbed in after her and put out a hand to help me up. Instead, I walked around to the front and climbed up to where the reigns were. Shannon was sitting beside me a minute later.

"Don't try anything," he said, pointing to a small dagger placed under the seat for his easy reach.

I laughed. "Still don't trust me, eh? Well, I can't promise we'll reach a town tonight anyway." The sun had set now, and the sky was continuously turning dark blue.

"What?" Pacifica cried from the back. She poked her head through the curtain that was behind Shannon and I. "But I thought you said-"

"I said the next town we reached. I've been on this path for about a week."

Shannon snickered. "Got lost, huh?"

I scowled at him. I didn't want to hear comments like that from him.

Pacifica, having already lost interest in the situation, pulled her head back and started talking to Raquel about something I couldn't make out, nor did I care to.

* * *

_A/N: That's the first chapter of this amazingly long epic (well, perhaps "epic" is too strong a word. The story is too long for me to be comfortable putting it in what would most likely be a 40 or 50+ chapter story, so I split it into two parts. Part one (what you're reading now), is compleatly done and will be posted in chapter pairings weekly until it's all up. Then, if I get enough buzz and good reviews about it, perhaps I'll be driven to finish writting part two. So please keep reading and be sure to review! Also, don't be afraid to share your ideas with me! I've hit a bit of a road block with part two and could use all the help I can get! But that relies on your reveiws!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	2. Chapter 2 Punishments and Prophocies

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 2: Punishments and Prophecies

The next day, I learned the pain that came with traveling with Pacifica. No wonder her brother was always scowling. I would too if Al always acted like that. She was constantly whining for something, whether it be food, a bed or just a break. When she wasn't begging her brother for something, she was brooding in the back. It was hard to believe she was my age.

By some miracle though, about halfway through the day, the outskirts of a town could be seen on the horizon. I thought this would shut Pacifica up, but her cries just got louder! Since I was paying, she reasoned, they would be staying at the best hotel my money could buy. She kept going on about feather pillows, warm sheets, and a hot bath.

"Look you," I told her as we neared the town, "you better not be planning on spending all of my money!"

I suddenly had a new appreciation for Alphonse. He didn't eat, and I had a feeling that this girl would eat twice as much as her siblings.

"Aww crap..." I groaned as we hit the city limits.

"There a problem?" Shannon asked, glancing at me sideways.

"Something like that," I mumbled as we passed the city's sign. I suppose I should have realized where we were before hand, but the thought that we would even be close to this town never entered my thoughts. I had managed to avoid it on the way down, so why couldn't my luck hold on the way back?

"Dublith?" Raquel read.

I climbed back into the cabin of the wagon.

"What are you doing?" Shannon asked. "I don't know where to go!"

"Keep going straight," I called back. "You'll hit a whole string of inns. All of them are as good as the next."

"Why are you hiding?" Pacifica asked.

"My teacher lives nearby," I explained.

"Your teacher?" Raquel looked intrigued. "Did he teach you alchemy?"

"_She_," I corrected, "did give me my formal training. But..." A shudder went up my spine. I really didn't want to see her.

The wagon stopped then and Shannon pulled back the curtain. "We're here."

"Finally!" Pacifica exclaimed as she hopped out of the carriage. "I hope they have a bath!" Raquel followed and, glancing out and around the street, I did too.

I practically ran for the door and yanked it open, groaning as I did so.

Standing at the front desk was my teacher's husband, Sid. At hearing the door open, he turned around and instantly spotted me.

"Edward," he greeted simply.

I gave an uneasy smile and waved, but not before giving a panic glance around the room. "Hey!" I peered carefully outside one of the nearby windows. "Is Teacher with you?"

Still watching me, he slowly shook his head. "I was making a delivery."

Pacifica walked up beside me and stared at the large man a few feet away. "Friend of yours?"

I nodded. "My teacher's husband."

Sid turned back to the innkeeper at the counter while Pacifica and their siblings looked at me. Deciding I might as well get it over with, I pulled out my pocket watch and handed it to Shannon, thinking he would be the most responsible with it out of the three.

"Take this and show it to the innkeeper when you get the rooms. Tell him it goes under the title 'Fullmetal'." I watched Shannon to make sure he got all that. When he nodded, I continued with a heavy sigh, "I have to go take care of some things. I'll meet up with you later." I started to walk out of the inn, when I stopped and turned back around. "Don't you leave with that watch," I warned. "I will track you down to get it back."

"Going to see Izumi?" Sid asked as he walked up behind me.

Another shiver chased up my spine. A strong foreboding. "Yeah," I reluctantly replied. Might as well. It's way worse if she has to find me.

Sid led me through the small meat shop to the back. I sniffed at the air. There was still a resounding smell of raw meat, even in the back, which was their home.

"I'm back," Sid called as he walked through to the kitchen.

"Welcome back, Honey," Izumi greeted cheerfully. I felt grateful at Sid's size. It allowed me to hide safely behind while the two greeted each other.

"I met someone," Sid said, suddenly stepping to the side.

Crap. I tried to step to the side with him, but failed. I'd been spotted.

Teacher didn't hesitate as she grabbed the butcher knife she had been using and lobbed it at me. I dodged just in time, causing the knife to whiz past me, stabbing the wall behind me. I looked from the knife to her, and saw another one flying at me.

"Hey!" I yelled as I ducked behind a chair.

"You are not here," she yelled as a small blade pierced the floor, inches from where my foot was. "I know you are not here, because I told you not to come back here."

I looked around the room and quickly decided on the best course of action. There was a bright flash, and the table in front of me changed into a solid wood wall.

Big mistake, bringing alchemy into it.

She too clapped her hands, disintegrating the wall and returning it to her table and chairs. Then she charged at me while clapping again. Wires sprang from the walls and pulled me tightly against the closest one, binding me there.

"Edward," she said tersely, "what are you doing?"

"Can't a guy just stop by and say hello to his favorite teacher?" I asked, trying to butter her up. Should have known it would fail.

She gripped my jaw tightly in one hand and put her face inches from my own. Every part of me wanted to look away, but I managed to somehow hold her gaze. Alphonse would be proud.

Finally she released me from the wall and I ran a hand over my sore jaw. "Where's Alphonse?" She walked back over to the counter, grabbing the butcher knife from the wall on the way.

"He's in Central," I explained. "I was down here on..." I paused. If I told her it was a mission for the military, she'd probably attack me again. "Business."

She raised an eyebrow at me and I noticed her grip on the knife in her hand tightened. I thought she was going to ask for more information, but when she returned her attention to the slab of dripping red meat on the table in front of her, I knew I was in the clear.

"I got lost going back though." No need to even bother trying to lie to her. She can smell a lie from four towns over and wouldn't hesitate to call me on it in what I'm sure would be the most vilant way possible. Met up with these people and they gave me a lift here. Spotted Sid at the inn, so I thought I'd come and say hello. Now that I've done that," I stopped talking and tried to walk for the door. I heard the whooshing again and saw the knife she had thrown at me earlier hit the same spot on the wall as before. Figures she wouldn't just let me leave.

"You still looking for the stone?" she asked simply, as if she hadn't just tried to take off one of my ears.

I balled my fists at my side and stood up straighter. "Of course."

"Leave."

I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the door was closed behind me. I couldn't believe she just let me go like that.

I walked back to the inn, deciding I'd better call Al at least, to let him know I was fine. Al tended to worry like that.

Upon entering the inn, I spotted Shannon at a table, so I walked over and sat with him. He passed my watch back and didn't say anything.

"You okay?" I asked finally. Seemed like he was troubled.

He shrugged.

I leaned forward onto the table and looked him in the eye. "You aren't going to tell me what you're running from are you." I didn't phrase it as a question. I could tell he wouldn't answer from what I had managed to learn about him in the last day. He wasn't someone who liked to volunteer information about himself.

He simply shrugged again.

"Okaaayyy. Do you know what you are going to do now that you're in my county?"

Another shrug.

I sighed, then stood up to leave. "Whatever." I hated when people were like that. Perhaps I'd try again later or something. I needed to call Alphonse anyway.

Once the innkeeper had given me a phone, I dialed the military barracks where I figured Al would be and gave my room number. After a few minutes of ringing, I hung up. Al would have picked up on the first ring. Damn. Guess that meant I had to call Mustang.

"Edward Elric for Colonel Mustang," I told the Central operator.

"One moment," came the reply.

Another minute passed and I was just about to hang up when there was click and, "about time you called Fullmetal. I was beginning to worry."

"Yeah," I scoffed. "You sound real broken up. I got sidetracked, okay?"

"By sidetracked you mean lost?"

I felt my face heat up in anger. "The stone!" I said too quickly. "I followed a dead lead on the stone."

The other end of the phone was silent. "Is that so?" came his voice.

"Yeah," I said again. "That's so." No reason for you to think any different, and like hell was I going to admit to you that I was lost.  
"So I can tell your brother here that you'll be back soon."

"Al's _there_?!" I knew he wasn't at the barracks, so I figured Mustang would know, but why was Alphonse there?

"That's right Fullmetal. He's been here practically every minute since you left."

"Let me talk to him."

Mustang sighed. "Fine, but not too long. The military phones shouldn't be used for personal calls."

My mind flashed on all the times I'd caught him talking to some woman on the phone, or all the times Hughes had been using the phone to talk brag about his daughter.

"Yeah yeah. Lemme talk to Al."

"Brother?" came a soft voice.

"Al! Good to hear your voice." I hadn't realized how lonely I was without him there. "What are you doing at Headquarters?"

"I got bored, so I was helping Colonel Mustang with his paperwork. Where have you been? You told me you'd be back in a few days!"

"I got sidetracked!" I lied again.

"I bet you got lost Brother."

I sighed loudly. "Give me a break Al, I'm not even sure that place belongs on a map."

"Where are you now?"

"Uh, about that..."

"Brother..." his tone sounded like that of a parent.

"I'm in Dublith."

There was a pause. "Have you seen Teacher?!"

I gave an uneasy laugh. I saw her alright. "We might have crossed paths. Listen, I'll tell you all about it when I get back, okay? I should be there in a day or so, assuming the trains are running okay."

"Okay Brother. Oh! The Colonel wants to speak with you."

"No, that's okay Al you don't have to--"

"Hello Fullmetal."

I took a deep breath. "What now? I told Al I'd be back in a few days."

"That's fine," he said lazily. "I just wanted to tell you to keep an eye out for a group of travelers."

"What?" What in the world was he talking about?

"Military Command has received a letter from a neighboring country that there are a group of travelers fleeing their country, possibly to ours."

Uh-oh. I had a bad feeling. "Uh-huh. What about them?"

"Two females and a male," he explained. "Wanted for...treason it says."

I turned away from the front desk and looked back at the table I had been sitting at. Shannon was still there, and his eyes were staring at me. The entire time I watched him, his eyes didn't blink once.

"What does the military want with them?"

"The country wants us to hold them if we find them. That's all." He paused. "Have you seen them?"

I watched Shannon for a bit and looked away. "Can't say I have," I lied.

"Alright. Keep an eye out for them. They're being described as dangerous. I expect you to be back here in a day to present your report." Then he hung up.

I rolled my eyes and resisted yelling a retort back into the phone. Mustang was insane. Dublith was at least a two day trip by train from Central.

"Did you contact your superior officer?" Shannon asked. I had gone back over to his table.

I nodded slowly as I sat down. "Yeah, and I think you owe me some answers."

"Oh do I."

"Yes. See, I just lied for you to my superior officer, and I think I deserve to know why."

Shannon licked his lips and folded his arms. "They're looking for us here," he guessed.

I nodded. "That's right. Why."

He looked around and signaled for me to follow him. We walked up to his room, which was thankfully not the best in the joint. At least he wasn't trying to spend all of my money like Pacifica wanted them to.

He sat down on his bed and I sat in a chair by the closed window.

"There's this thing in my country, about something called the Scrapped Princess."  
"You mentioned that story to me before."

He nodded. "Yeah. Well it's less of a story and more of what some believe to be prophecy. The 511th Oracle of Saint Grendel to be specific." He shook his head. "Most of those so-called prophecies of Saint Grendel turn out to be absolute shit. This one though, they took to heart."

"What does it say?"

"'Of the twins which should spring from the Queen's womb, you must kill the girl at once. She will create mountains of corpses and rivers of blood on the day appointed by destiny. She will be the poison that destroys this world.' That's what."

I leaned back in my chair. "The poison that destroys the world? That's a little extreme, don't you think?"

"Yes. I do. That's why we are on the run."

Oh. "Pacifica," I said quietly. "They think she's this 'scrapped princess'?"

"Yes."

"So your parents--"

"Died protecting Pacifica. Shortly after our father passed, we were attacked in our home village. We couldn't stay there after that. We've been on the run since."

"So you just have to keep her safe until this appointed day, right? Piece of cake! Do you know when it is?"

"Her sixteenth birthday in four months."

Oh-ho. This was going to be simple then. "Like I said piece of cake. The military got news of you from your country, so they'll be looking for you. It won't be that hard to hide you. We'll need to leave though. Relatively speaking, this town in pretty close to the boarder. They'll be checking those areas first. I have a great place to hide you. And you're going to want to want to get rid of that wagon of yours. Around here that thing will attract too much attention."

I stood up and walked to the door. I had to make some calls.

"Wait," Shannon called, stopping me.

"Yeah?"

"Why would you help us?"

I shrugged. "I've seen Pacifica, and I don't think she has it in her to cause these 'mountains of corpses' and 'rivers of blood'." Though she could do her fair share of that anyway. "Where are your sisters anyway?"

"They are out looking around town."

I shook my head. "I'm going to go out and find them. You guys shouldn't be separated for long."

"We should have a few days though, if they just started looking for us."

"No, this country is run by the military. They're everywhere. We have to move as soon as possible. You stay here."

Shannon stood up and walked over to me. "I'm going too. They're my sisters."

"That may be, but I know this town like the back of my--" I looked down at my gloved-covered automail hand. "I know it really well," I said, stuffing my hand into my pocket. "Stay here incase they come back."

Thankfully, it was easier to find them then I thought it would be. They were only two blocks away, looking through the window of a little trinket shop.

"Hey," I greeted cheerfully, trying to make it sound like nothing was up.

"Edward," Raquel greeted.

"Hey Ed!" Pacifica smiled.

"You guys need to get back to the inn. Shannon'll fill you in."

Worry flashed across Raquel's face and she turned serious. "Let's go Pacifica."

"What? But I was looking!"

Once they were gone, I reluctantly walked back to Izumi's and Sid's meat shop. I had to go back to Central, else I look suspicious. I was already fairly certain that Mustang suspected me, but that couldn't be helped.

"Teacher," I called as I walked in. Best to give her a little warning. That way I don't come in, take her by surprise and have another knife thrown at my head.

"What are you doing back here?!" she yelled as she walked in to meet me.

"I kind of need a favor," I asked sheepishly.

She narrowed her eyes, and led me back to her living room.

"What?" she asked once she sat down.

"I met this group of travelers."

"I'm not putting them up here," she said immediately.

I put up my hands. "I wasn't going to ask you to! I kind of need you to take them somewhere."

She folded her arms and looked at me. "You must be joking. You realize I have a business to run here?"

"I know. And I wouldn't ask if Al were here. I would make him go himself. But I can't."

I made sure my tone was sincere. "It's really important. I have to be back in Central--"

"Take them with you."

"I can't. The military is looking for them."

Her mouth opened to yell at me, but she seemed to compose herself. "You took in fugitives?"

"They're not fugitives."

"Right. I'm sure. Why else would the military be looking for them?"

"They're running from their country. Look, you can ask them all you want."

She gave an exasperated sigh and looked up at the ceiling. "Just where do you expect me to take them?"

"Resembool. To Granny Pinako's."

* * *

_A/N: please excuse any inconsistencies in traveling times, and the locations of towns mentioned. I'm lacking a map of Amistris, and it's been a while since I've seen the anime, so I can't remember if they are ever clear on the distance between Central and Dublith. For the sake of this story, please just go with the flow. If any of you remember the name of the country Pacifica and the others are from, that would help a lot! Also, if there are any major mistakes (name spellings and the like), please tell me so I can correct it!! R&R please!!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	3. Chapter 3 Explanations and Lies

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 3: Explainations and Lies

Have I said how much I hated trains? They are literally, a pain in my ass. Sitting on one of those for more then and hour is equal to sitting on a rock for two. Lets not even take into account the number of times I've been on one when some idiot tried to hijack it. Still though, when given the option between that and walking, I'd choose that any day, hands down.

"Brother!" yelled a voice from across Central's train station. Alphonse swept me up in his arms, giving me a bone breaking hug.

"Can't....breath....Al..." I managed to gasp.

"Oh, right." He put me down.

"Why did you meet me here? I'm just going to go back to Headquarters."

"Oh, um...I'm actually here with someone Brother."

I took two steps and quickly understood who. Towering over all of the heads in the station and even giving Al's height a run for it's money, stood Major Armstrong. I groaned loudly.

"Why is he here?"

"Colonel Mustang sent him. He said he wanted to make sure you came right to headquarters."

"Edward Elric!"

I cringed and fought the urge to hide behind Al. Seconds later, however, another set of arms swept me up in a bear hug.

"My ribs...." I hissed.

"It is good to see you! It's been far too long!"

Not long enough, actually.

"You didn't need to come here, Major," I told him as politely as I could.

"It's quite alright," he said. "The Colonel said he wanted a uniformed officer down here to pick you up and I promptly volunteered."

"I'm sure you did. Let's go Al."

"Good to see you Fullmetal. It's been a while."

I scowled at Mustang but didn't say anything.

"Did you have a nice trip?"

"Peachy."

"Tsk tsk tsk Fullmetal. Keep that up and I might make you go back. You're report?"

I tossed my report on his desk. It had been written on the train. He glanced at it without picking it up and looked back at me.

"You should take penmanship lessons," he said with a smirk.

"You should take basic work lessons," I retorted, looking at the tall pile of paperwork on his desk. "I thought Al said he was helping you?"

"Alphonse was actually quite helpful," 1st Lt. Hawkeye said. "He worked all through the night organizing the filing room."

"Yeah," 2nd Lt. Havoc said as he walked in with a new stack of papers. He happily placed them on Mustang's desk. "Al found loads of papers Mustang hadn't filled out or signed yet."

"Get out of here, Havoc," Mustang growled.

"Sorry Sir," he said as he left, though he didn't sound sorry at all.

Mustang picked up the report and shifted his eyes over it, getting a better look. "'So much wood that if the town flooded it'd all float away'?" He quoted. I nodded. "What's that supposed to mean?"

That somewhere, a forest was crying from all of the wood it had lost. "I had more metal on myself then the entire town had in use. Honestly Mustang. You couldn't have sent me to a more ridiculous place. It's like this place was back in time or something. You never really did tell me why exactly I was there. That report is just my general observations."

He skimmed the report some more and nodded. "Yeah, that's all I sent you there for."

"Sight seeing?!" I asked, a little miffed that that was actually the reason. "I have more important things to do then look at your little towns." I held up my right arms and slammed my left foot onto his desk, lifting up my pant leg in the process. "Incase you haven't noticed, mine and Al's bodies are still messed up."

Mustang looked at my leg and raised an eyebrow. "Try to look like you are in the military Edward."

I yanked my foot back and folded my arms. "Are we done? I need to see my mechanic."

"Problem with your automail?"

"Yes. There's too much dirt caked in it from that little excursion you sent me on."

"Go ahead."

Happily, I walked toward the door.

"Oh, and Fullmetal?"

Scowling, I turned around. "What?"

"Keep an eye out for those travelers." He watched me for my reaction, and added, "personally, I'd like to meet them myself. I'm told one wields magic."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're an alchemist _Colonel_. I wouldn't think you'd believe in things like magic." Hell, I wouldn't have if I hadn't seen Raquel use it with my own eyes.

Mustang continued to watch me for a while, then dismissed me.

The next day, I was on my way to Resembool.

"Why are we going back Brother?" Al asked on the train. "You're automail looks fine."

"Don't you want to visit Al? We haven't been there in a while."

"Of course! I just don't see why you suddenly want to go. Usually you have Winry come to us."

"It's easier that way," I told him, wishing the conversation would end. I wanted to tell him about the Casulls, but on this crowded train that wasn't an option.

"Look Al," I said once the train had made a stop, and half of the passengers were gone, "there are going to be some people that are staying with Granny and Winry." Hopefully anyway. Assuming Teacher didn't kill Pacifica, which I could totally see happening.

"Who?" It was clear that Al thought it was somebody we'd know.

I checked around the train, making sure the Colonel hadn't sent anyone trailing me. "Their names are Shannon, Raquel and Pacifica Casull. Their visiting from another country."

Al nodded. "Okay. Why are you acting like it's a big secret?" He looked at my hunched over state.

I sat back up. "You remember those travelers Mustang kept warning me about?"

"The ones the military are looking for, right?" He gasped, understanding. "Brother you didn't!"

I rolled my eyes, ready for the lecture I was sure would come.

"Ed, we can't harbor fugitives!"

"They haven't done anything wrong Al," I tried to explain. "They're victims of circumstance."

Al leaned forward then, and folded his hands on his lap. "So what are they wanted for?"

"There's this story of the Scrapped Princess in their country. Says that when the queen gives birth to twins, the girl needed to be killed. Supposedly, she's supposed to bring all this death and destruction."

"That's ridiculous. People can't know that when you're born."

"I know that and you know that, but the people of that country don't think so. They took it to heart, and want this girl, Pacifica dead. They all think she's this Scrapped Princess."

"But, Brother, what if they're right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Self-fulfilling prophecy. If she's told she'll bring death and destruction her entire life, wouldn't she start to?"

I thought for a moment. The Casull's had been quiet about what they had been through before coming to Amistris. For all I knew, Shannon could have taken out an entire army. But Pacifica? I shook my head of my thoughts and replied, "Pacifica isn't like that at all. You'll see when you meet her, she doesn't have it in her to hurt anyone."

"Hey Granny Pinako!" I called once we neared the house. "We're back!"

Winry suddenly appeared at a window, and vanished just as quickly. Seconds later, she sprinted from the house and ran up to me, dropped down to her knees and hiked up my left pants leg. I blushed slightly (don't tell Al) and yanked my foot away, to which she grabbed my right hand and pulled back the sleeve.

"Why are you here?" she asked once she had made sure both my arm and leg were still there.

"Can't we visit?" I asked, sure she would see through the lie.

She eyed me, and I was certain she would catch on, but instead she turned back toward the house and led us in.

"Edward," Granny greeted from the table. She had scraps of metal laying around her; pieces of some automail limb she was trying to repair. "Alphonse."

"Hey Granny! Hi Winry! Din!" Al greeted, walking over to their dog, Din in the corner. A clang echoed through Al's armor as Din leapt up on him, his automail leg hitting Al's hollow one.

I sat down at the table. "Granny, did Teacher come here?"

Winry grabbed my right arm and tugged it to her as she sat down at the table beside me. She began giving my automail a look-over.

Pinako nodded. "Yes, came with visitors too."

"Oh! Good! Where are they?" I looked around the house, hoping she had let them stay there.

"Last I talked to Izumi, she was making them stay at the inn in town."

I tried not to laugh. That inn was so small, there was no way it would please Pacifica. I had hoped Granny would let them stay with her (it was where Al and myself had always stayed while we were here), but it didn't surprise me that Izumi had forced them into the inn.

"Come on Al," I said, starting to stand up. "I need to go speak with them."

"Can I come?" Winry asked as she yanked my arm back, forcing me to sit.

"That's not such a good idea yet," I told her. Now that I thought about it, the less people that come in contact with them, the less there is for the military to interrogate.

Winry stopped looking at my arm and glared at me. "What kind of things are you guys getting mixed up in now?"

I didn't answer, but instead pulled my arm away and stood.

"You boys going to be here for dinner?" Pinako asked as Al followed me toward the door.

"I'm not sure," I answered honestly. Who knew where this was going to lead? Mustang obviously suspected me, so I wouldn't put it past him to send somebody to tail me. It was best to move the Casulls' onto the next town as soon as possible. "Probably not?" I guessed.

I walked out the door and made it a few feet off the porch when a metal object connected hard against the back of my head.

"Brother!" Al called, crouching down to where I now lay on the ground. Stars swam hurriedly in front of my eyes, making me dizzy. Despite that though, I leapt to my feet and spun around, desperate to see the culprit.

"Winry! What the hell was that for?!"

Winry stomped purposefully to me with a determined look on her face. Instinctively, I backed away at seeing another wrench in her hand.

"You boys never tell me anything," she mumbled as she walked up and grabbed my metal hand. Despite having no real feeling in that hand, I felt heat surge up from her fingers. "Give me your arm," she ordered.

"I--wha?"

She started to pull off my jacket. "Your arm. I need to make some adjustments."

"And how long with that take?" I asked, thinking of the Casulls.

"Who do you take me for?" she asked, regaining her former attitude. "It'll be done tonight."

I sighed. "Just in time for dinner?"

A smile swept across her face. "That's right! And your guests are more then welcome to join us."

"Winry, I don't exactly have the time--"

"It's settled then!" She yanked my jacket off then, and started unscrewing the outer plate away from my arm.

"Winry! Hey!" I wanted to fight, or pull away, but in our current positions, I would end up breaking some of the wiring in my arm. That wouldn't be good.

Finally she broke away, my arm in her hands. She looked down at my leg.

"No," I told her, knowing what she was about to ask. "My leg is fine. Promise."

She looked back up at me, as if contemplating weather or not she wanted to attack me to get to my leg. Thankfully, she thought better of it, and turned back towards the house.

"See you tonight!" she called back.

Dammit. Now I'm going to have to explain to the Casulls' just why I'm missing an arm.

"Come on Al," I told him as we started to walk towards the small town.

* * *

_A/N: Please excuse the lack of recaps at the begining of each chapter. As I mentioned before, the story is finsished, I'm just breaking it up into chapters because it's easier to find your place in something that is not a "read-in-one-day" kind of story. And, since I'm updating this with two chapters a week, I didn't think recaps were really nescessary. R&R please!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	4. Chapter 4 PostDinner Nerve Connection

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 4: Post-Dinner Nerve Connections

Al was the one to open the door to the inn, therefore Al was the one that got the brunt of Teacher's fury.

"It's about time!" She yelled as she knocked Al to the ground. She started to reach for my right arm and stopped when she saw it wasn't there. "Where is your arm?!"

I sighed. "My mechanic took it."

She shook her head. "No excuses." Then she grabbed my left arm an flipped me to the ground with a loud _thud_.

"I'm going now," she said, walking to the door. "Your friends are at the end of the hall."

"You're leaving so soon Teacher?" Al asked after her. Stupid Al, don't make her want to stay!

"I've been away from the shop too long." She stopped and turned around, looking at me. "And next time, don't come to me just when you want something."

Only when the door had slammed behind her did I get up off the floor.

"What happened?!" Shannon asked. He had run out into the hall with his sword to the ready, probably because of the noise Teacher had made in her attack.

I rotated my left arm, trying to stretch it out. "Just saying goodbye to our Teacher," I explained.

Shannon nodded and put his sword back in it's sheath. "Who's that?" he asked, nodding towards Al.

"This is my little brother, Alphonse."

"Hello!"

Shannon raised and eyebrow. "_Little_ brother?"

"I know, alright? I know I'm shor--" I stopped. "I mean, I know I'm sma-- I just know, okay?!"

Shannon shrugged, and started leading us back to their room. "Your teacher is a real piece of work," he said conversationally. "She's a really disciplined fighter."

"We know," I said proudly. "She taught us practically everything we know."

"Did she spar with you?" Al asked.

Shannon shook his head. "No, since I use swords, I didn't think it would be fair."

I snickered. "That wouldn't have mattered with her."

"Hm. She said the same thing." He opened the door to his room, where Raquel and Pacifica were already seated. Raquel was sitting on one of the beds, reading a book, and Pacifica was brooding by the small window.

"This is Alphonse," Shannon greeted, signaling to Al. "He's Edward's _little_ brother."

"Oh," Raquel said as she placed her book to the side and stood up. "Hello," she greeted, taking Alphonse's hand. "You're awfully big."

Al put a hand behind his head and shifted uncomfortably. "Heh heh. Thanks."

"It's about time you got here," Pacifica spat, standing up. "I'm hungry and Shannon won't let me out of this room." With her arms folded across her chest, she looked like a pouting five year old. She spotted Al then, and her mouth dropped open. "Whoa...you look like a giant robot!"

"So what's your plan?" I asked, taking a seat on one of the beds. Shannon shrugged and sat down on the bed across from me.

"Back in our country, our only thought had been to get out. We didn't really think about what we would do if we made it."

"Hey Ed!" Pacifica sat down on the bed beside me, close enough to make me slide away a few inches. "What happened to your arm?" She pointed to the empty right sleeve of my jacket. The end of the sleeve had been tucked into a pocket, making it look like the arm was there. The only way to really tell that there wasn't was that the cloth was twisted.

"My mechanic took it," I explained.

Raquel gasped slightly. "Can you get it back?"

I nodded. "Yeah, of course. She just wanted to make some repairs to it. I'll head back over tonight to get it."

"The technology in this country is amazing," Raquel complemented. "I didn't even know your arm was a fake until your fight with Shannon!"

"Brother," Al started to scold, "you fought them?"

"Hey, he attacked me! It was self defense!"

Pacifica giggled. "And he trapped you in a box Shannon!"

"Brother!"

"Come on Al! He wouldn't listen to reason!"

I glanced at Shannon. His lips were thin, making him look like he was holding something back.

"Yeah," Pacifica said, her laughter growing. "You never would have gotten out of there if you hadn't called Ed short!"

"I'M NOT SHORT!" I yelled reflexively.

"Nobody said that Ed!" Alphonse sighed, coming over and placing a hand on my shoulder to hold me down.

"I would have gotten out eventually," Shannon mumbled.

"You never did explain how you did that," said Raquel.

"It's simple alchemy. I thought I told you I was a state alchemist."

"What's alchemy?" Pacifica asked stupidly.

"Making something out of something else. For instance..." I looked around the room for something to use as an example. I spotted a clay pitcher on the nightstand and promptly knocked it off. "Al?"

"On it." He bent down next to the broken shards of clay and started drawing a white circle around the pieces.

"What's he doing?" Pacifica asked.

"Just watch."

A couple of seconds later, Al pressed his fingers to the outer rim of the transmutation circle. A bright blue flash later, and the pitcher was sitting on the floor in perfect condition. It even looked cleaner then before. Guess Al forgot about the dust, heh.

"Whoa!! That was awesome!!" Pacifica started clapping.

"Impressive," Shannon commented.

"That was alchemy," I told them.

Raquel studied the pitcher, and looked back up at me. "But in your fight with Shannon, you never drew any circles."

"I don't need to. All I need are two hands. The rest is up here." I tapped my left temple with my fingers.

"But you only have one hand now."

"Which is why I made Al repair the pitcher."

Pacifica looked excitedly at Al. "Can you do it just by clapping your hands?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't remember the gate," he said sadly.

"The gate?"

"It's nothing," I said quickly. "We have to decide what you guys are going to do now."

The room fell silent. I knew each of them were thinking about what their next move should be.

"Let's stay here!" Pacifica said after a while.

"No!" Shannon and I said together. Pacifica looked at us stupidly.

"I just mean," I tried to cover, "that my military is looking for you. At the very least, you should keep moving."

"He's right, Pacifica," Raquel said sadly.

She groaned. "Man! Shannon, you said that once we made it over the border, we could relax! I haven't had one bath since we've been here!" She reached over and gripped Shannon's cheek tightly.

"'Ey!" He tried to yell and pull away, but Pacifica kept her grip firm.

"You promised Shannon! I want to know what you're going to do to make it up to me!"

I glanced at Al, and really wished he could have a different look on his face. I was certain that at this display, he would have the same expression I did.

Finally, Shannon managed to break away. "Yes _Your Highness_," he spat. "How about we all go out for ice cream later tonight?" The sarcasm was pouring from his mouth.

"Really?!" Pacifica, however, hadn't picked up on it.

"Actually," Al spoke up, "if you would like, Brother and I have to go back to get his arm tonight and were invited to dinner."

"_Al_!"

"Oh, don't worry about it Ed! I'm sure it will be fine!" He turned back to Shannon and the others. "You are welcome to join us."

"That's not ness--" Shannon started to say.

"Awesome!" Pacifica leapt off the bed and ran over to Al, clapping him on the shoulder. The sound echoed through his hollow body, making her eyes go wide.

"Let's go then," I said, before they could ask questions.

"This is Granny Pinako, and Winry, my mechanic," I introduced. Reluctantly, I had brought the Casulls' over to dinner. Winry appeared shocked at it too.

"Welcome to our home," Winry said, blushing slightly at Shannon.

"Your name is Winry?" Pacifica ran forward and grabbed one of Winry's hands. "I'm Pacifica! Let's be friends!"

Winry glanced at me quickly, then smiled at her new "friend."

"Dinner is just about ready boys," Pinako said as she walked back into the kitchen.

"Perfect!" Winry stepped away from Pacifica and over to me. "That's just enough time to reattach your arm!"

My eyes went wide. Reattachments always wore me out. "Before dinner? Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I thought you wanted to leave?" she mocked. "I believe you said you were in a hurry." A sly smiled spread on her face.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at her. "We'll wait until after dinner."

She smiled and nodded. "Alright. Then give me your leg. I'm sure it'll need some adjustments too." She put her hands out as if she expected me to pop my leg off and hand it to her. "Don't worry," she said, "we've got a spare you can use."

"Edward," Raquel said as Winry sat me down on a stool, "I didn't know your leg was fake too!"

"What happened to you?" Shannon asked.

I shrugged, deciding to give the public excuse of what happened to my limbs. "There was a war in our country years ago. I lost my limbs then." This was a lie, of course, but since human transmutation was taboo, I couldn't exactly go around telling the truth.

"Oh."

I looked at Pacifica. She had suddenly gone really quiet, sitting on her stool next to Winry. Her eyes were downcast, and she looked like she was lost in thought.

"Is that why you are in the armor?" Raquel asked Al.

"S-something like that," he hastily replied. I glanced at Al and gave him a small apologetic smile. It was my fault after all that he was like that. Not a day went by that I didn't think about it.

"Okay," Winry said once my leg was taken off. She walked into another room to grab the spare.

"So weird," Pacifica whispered, looking at where my leg is attached.

I smiled at her. "It is, isn't it?"

I noticed that Raquel had her eyes on me, making me a little self conscience. I was only wearing my boxers and my black tank top, making it easier for Winry to detach the limbs. I was sure I looked like some broken toy. To make things worse, she had a sad look on her face.

"Sorry," I said, reaching over for my red coat to cover up. "I must look like some broken toy you find in an alley." I laughed, trying to show her didn't bother me. At least not anymore. I had long since learned to cope with it. It wasn't like I could do anything about it. Not yet anyway.

She shook her head. "I was just thinking that you must be cold."

This made me laugh. She wasn't looking at me with pity on my situation, but because she thought I was cold? Ha!

"This is nothing," I said, discarding my jacket on the floor beside me. "To train us, our Teacher left us on an island for a month with nothing but the clothes on our backs. Those nights were freezing."

Al laughed. "Brother was always complaining."

"I was not!"

"Were too! You always made me make the fires because you couldn't!"

"Well, if I remember right, you didn't have that much luck either!"

Pacifica started laughing, but stopped once Winry came out with another leg.

"Here we are!" She sat back down on her stool.

"Is this gonna hurt?" Pacifica asked. If I didn't know better, she almost seemed a little excited about it.

I shook my head. "She's not going to connect the nerves with this one." I gave an involuntary shudder at what was to come later when she did need to.

"Yes," said Granny, walking back into the room. "And I expect we'll need all of your help with that."

Shannon raised an eyebrow and looked at me.

"Dinner is ready," she said. Granny placed a big steaming pot on the table. As soon as my temporary leg was connected, I sprinted over to the table and took the bowl of stew Granny handed me.

"Yes!" I loved stew, and it had been months since I had some. Living in the barracks in Central, I ate well (when Al reminded me), but they never served this. It was almost worth coming back for. Almost.

Pacifica took the bowl handed to her and looked at it. "What is it?"

"It's stew!" I said excitedly, scooping a hearty spoonful into my mouth.

"It's quite good!" Raquel said, smiling. "Try it Pacifica! It's been a while since we've had a home cooked meal!"

"It has," Shannon said as he took his bowl. "Thank you for having us."

"It's not a problem," Granny said, finally sitting down. "We don't have guests very often, outside of patients, so you'll have to excuse us."

After staring at her food for a while, Pacifica finally took a small bite. "Hey, this is good!"

"I told you," said Raquel. Suddenly she gasped loudly.

"What is it?" Shannon said quickly, looking to the door, his hand flying down to his sword.

"Your potato!" She pointed to his bowl. "From here it looks just like Mr. Soupy!"

Both Pacifica and Shannon rolled their eyes and returned to their meal.

"What's a 'Mr. Soupy'?" Al asked.

"Oh, he's just the cutest little thing!" She put a finger to her lip, as if trying to decide how to explain. "I know!" she said excitedly, putting her hand out infront of her. "Come Mr. Sou--"

Shannon jumped up and slapped her hand down. "That's alright. How about we try not to destroy their home?"

A frown formed on her face, and she put her hand down. "I wasn't going to blow anything up this time," she promised.

"Yeah, that's what you said about the hotel," Pacifica mumbled.

"B-blow up?" Winry dropped her spoon into her bowl.

"It's not very often!" Raquel defended.

Shannon rolled his eyes again. "Yeah right."

I nodded in agreement. "When I first met them, she got inches away from blowing me up."

Winry's eyes went wide. "What are you talking about?"

I placed my spoon in my now empty bowl and handed it to Granny for seconds. "Raquel does magic."

Winry laughed. "Magic isn't real."

I shook my head. "Yeah, I would have thought that too, if I hadn't seen Raquel's magic with my own eyes."

"She's actually quite gifted with it," Shannon explained. "Our mother taught her. Tried to teach me too, but you need a big--well, I wasn't able to do it so well. I used to be able to do really basic stuff, but it's been so long..."

"Need a big what?" Al asked, intrigued. Shannon opened his mouth to reply.

"A big brain," Pacifica answered before he got a chance. "Which Shannon doesn't have!"

"That's not true," Raquel defended. "You were good when Mother was teaching us, but you stopped when Father wanted to teach you swords."

He shrugged her comment off. "It doesn't matter anyway. We do just fine with one magic user in the family." He started to chuckle. "Can you imagine what would have happened if Pacifica had learned magic from our Mother?"

Raquel turned to their clueless sister and started to laugh. She mindlessly scratched at her head and stared back at them.

"What?"

"Thinking about it though," he continued, "I don't think she would have had the patience for it."

Raquel nodded in agreement. "She spent too much time chasing the chickens."

"What are you two talking about?" Pacifica asked, pounding a fist on the table. "Those chickens asked for it! I just wanted their eggs! They're the ones that wanted to fight!"

I glanced at Winry, Granny and Al. All of them were watching the Casull's exchange with mild interest. I have to say though, for the situation they were in, it was a little admirable that they could manage to joke around with each other like that.

"Alphonse?" Raquel asked suddenly.

"Y-yes?" he stuttered, surprised at being addressed so suddenly.

"Aren't you hungry?" The question was innocent, though the mood from our side was brought down considerably.

"Oh! Uh, no. I…uh...ate earlier. Before I met all of you."

"That was a few hours ago," Shannon commented. "You must be hungry now."

"Hey!" I said as I placed my spoon in my half-eaten second helping. "It's getting late!" I pointed outside. The sky was a dark blue. "Shouldn't you guys be getting back to the hotel? Come on, I'll walk you guys back."

"We're not done eating yet!" Pacifica protested. "And I want to see your arm and leg get reattached!"

"That does sound interesting," Shannon noted.

"They're more then welcome to stay," Granny told me. "The boys are going to have to stay tonight anyway since Ed will be so tired from the reconnections anyway, and we have plenty of beds."

"And a bath?" Pacifica asked excitedly.

Winry stared at her. "A bath?"

Nodding, she said, "that's right! I haven't had one in so long and that tiny inn in town doesn't have one!"

"There's large tub in the back room that we usually use for cleaning parts, but I suppose it could be used for a bath," Granny said. "It'll need to be emptied and then cleaned."

"Great!" Pacifica looked at Shannon. "Get to that, will ya?"

He stared at her. "And just why do I--"

"A bath does sound wonderful, doesn't it?" Raquel mused aloud.

Shannon sighed and I snickered. I had witnessed plenty of the way Pacifica treated Shannon when we were traveling together, and to be honest, I thought it was a little funny; mainly because I try to picture Al and myself in that same kind of situation. It just doesn't work out that way.

"Shall we get started?" Winry asked.

Holding back a groan, I nodded and stood up from the table. Granny put down her own spoon and followed suit.

"Can we watch?" Pacifica asked excitedly.

I was about to say no, when Granny spoke up, "actually, we could use your help to hold him down."

Raquel squeaked and looked at me. "H-hold him down?"

I grimaced and Winry said, "it's not the most pleasant thing in the world, to connect automail to someone."

"You don't have to feel it," I mumbled as we walked into one of the back rooms.

"Does it hurt?" Pacifica asked.

I shrugged, trying to toughen up a bit. "I've had worse pain." I glanced involuntarily at Al. My pain was nothing compared to what he's lost.

"Why did you choose to get automail?"

"You try getting around with one leg and one arm," I told Shannon. "See how far you get."

I sat down on the bed Winry had ready for me and laid back. She started laying out the main parts of the leg and arm, so she and Granny would be ready to connect them.

"There's so much," Raquel said quietly, looking over Winry's shoulder. "I bet it takes a long time to make something like that."

Winry shrugged. "It can, but not as long as the surgery and recovery takes. Besides, I've been doing this for years." She smiled brightly. "I've got some practice under my belt."

"How long does the surgery take?" Shannon asked, laying his sword down by the side of the bed. He seemed to decide it wasn't needed here.

"The initial surgery takes hours," Granny told them. She detached the spare leg and set it on a table behind her. "You have to locate the nerves, and prepare the body for the connection to the metal. It doesn't work for everyone. Recovery can take upwards of three years."

"Three years?!" the Casulls' said together.

I smiled, finding a chance to gloat. "I did it in one."

"You were also an idiot," Granny said.

"Still are," Winry mentioned quietly. "Are we ready?"

Granny pointed Shannon, Raquel, Pacifica and Al to various points around my body to hold me down. I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation. I hated this part. It was the only real part that almost made me regret my decision to get automail limbs.

"On three," she commanded. "ONE! TWO!"

"THREE!!" Granny and Winry yelled together. A soft click sounded and sharp pain surged through my body, centering in my right arm and left leg. I felt my mouth open to scream, but could only focus on the pain. Finally, the pain started to fade and my back hit the bed. I hadn't even realized I had lifted it up.

"Alright then," Granny said, leaning back and wiping imaginary sweat off her brow. She had nothing to sweat over. Myself, however, I could feel the cool sheen on my forehead and body.

"Is he going to be alright?!" Raquel asked.

"He'll be fine," Winry said, playfully smacking my right leg.

I tried to smile and put up a thumb with my left hand, but was feeling really tired all of a sudden.

"It's getting late now," Granny told the Casulls'. "He'll be fine, so let me show you to the room you'll be staying in."

I faintly heard footsteps leave the room, and the clicking from Winry's tools as she finished up the work on my arm and leg.

"They seem like nice people," she said conversationally.

"Uh-huh," I replied, half-coherently. Seconds later, I was asleep.

* * *

_A/N: Extra-long chapter to make up for the previous shorter chapter. I enjoy writting the parts with Izumi. I always think that if i can't come up with a witty response for her to say, then she can throw something at what is most always Ed. R&R please!!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	5. Chapter 5 Meeting of the Assassin

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all.

Chapter 5: Meeting of the Assassin

"Are you sure you don't want to stay another day or two?" Winry asked outside her house the next day. Granny was inside, getting ready for another patient she was seeing later in the day.

"We really need to get moving," I told her, putting up my right hand and waving to her. The spots where the automail was connected still hurt, but not so much that I wanted to waste another day. I was sure the military would be cracking down, searching each city soon.

"Bye Winry!" Al called, turning to walk over to the Casulls'.

"Come on!!" Pacifica moaned. "I'm tired Shannon! Why couldn't we stop in that last town?!"

"Is she always like this Brother?" Al whispered to me.

I looked up at Al and rolled my eyes. Of course she was. Pacifica could find fault in anything.

"We need to keep moving," Shannon explained, for the third time since passing the last town. "We can't stay in one place for too long."

Pacifica stoped and put her hands on her hips. It seemed to be a favorite pose of her's. "We have to stop first! Then we can worry about being there too long!"

Raquel put a finger to her lips in thought. "Perhaps it was too soon to get rid of the wagon," she said mildly.

Shannon shook his head, but I spoke up, "no, it was necessary. It drew too much attention. Where'd you get it anyway? Your dad make it?" I asked, remembering them saying that their father was very handy.

Shannon shook his head. "The duke in our hometown gave it to us."

"A duke?" Al asked, his voice full of awe.

"He knew our father," Raquel explained. "Said it was to fulfill a debt owed to him."

"So where are we going?" Pacifica asked. Again.

"North," I told her. Again.

"How far north?" she groaned.

"I had hoped to get you through the north border," I told them all. "The military wouldn't think to go that far north for you."

"But Brother," Al whispered, "the mountains up there are supposed to be really cold!"

"We'll figure that out when we come to it," I whispered back. "I need to keep these guys moving."

"How long is this gonna take?!"

Shannon slapped a hand to his face. "As long as it takes."

I had to hand it to this guy, he had quite a tolerance for his sister. Myself, I was on the verge of slapping the girl to keep her quiet. Pretty much the only thing stopping me was that I'm fairly certain I'd harm her more then I meant to. And I can only think what her brother would do to me. As annoying as she could be, he was loyal to her.

"Are you sure you should be helping us?" Pacifica was walking beside me now; Al walked over to Shannon and Raquel to talk to them.

Shrugging, I replied, "a little late, isn't it?"

"But it's your military," she said sadly.

"Yeah, and you're going against your own. Aren't you supposed to be this evil monster that is doomed to kill everyone?"

Pacifica flinched, and gave a half-assed smile. "Yeah...I guess..."

I looked at her from the corner of my eye. She was only a few inches taller then me, and for the first time, I didn't feel short when talking to someone. "You okay?"

She smiled wider this time, and nodded. "Yeah. I was just thinking..."

"Not good to hold things in," I told her, while also wishing she would turn to someone else. Talking to others about their problems tended to wind up with me talking about my own.

"Do you believe it? The oracle, I mean."

"If you are asking if I believe if you are capable of harming all of the people it seems to think you will, then sure. I think we all are to some extent. But, if you are asking me if I think it's your destiny to do these things, I'd have to say no. I don't believe in destiny. The future is what we make it. If you don't want to hurt those people, then don't. That simple." I smiled a little, proud at my response. It sounded very mature of me.

Pacifica just hung her head. "I wish it was that simple," she mumbled, then ran ahead a few yards before yelling out, "gah!! I am so board!!" I sighed a little, knowing she only did that to relieve some stress.

Two days later, we were getting ready to pass what I like to call Central Line. It's a line that intersects through Central, and basically divides the country into the north and south sides. We were still far from Central though, a plus, so I wasn't too concerned with having to interact with any military. Especially that ass Mustang.

We happened to be passing though a nearby forest (Pacifica wanted to walk in the shade), and I sensed someone. I froze instantly, as did Shannon, Raquel, and Al. Pacifica, however, continued walking like nothing was going on. No more then two seconds passed from when we all stopped when a shadow leapt out from the top of a tree and tackled Pacifica to the ground.

"Pacifica!" Shannon called out.

"Shannon!!" she called back.

A black cape draped over the figure's back, which was facing us.

"It's been a while, Shannon Casull," a male voice said.

"You," Shannon spit out. The boy stood up then and turned around, still pinning Pacifica to the ground with a foot. The boy's black cloak stretched down to where it hung barely a couple of inches off the ground. The face of a man no older then me popped out of the top, and he had short brown hair that was spiked up in the back.

He spotted Al, then me, and a slight smile spread across his lips. "I don't believe we've met," he said calmly. "My name is Christopher. Christopher Birock."

His name had barely escaped his lips before Shannon had his sword out and was charging at him. I thought for sure Shannon had hit his mark, until he leapt back a few feet and I could see that Christopher had his own weapon drawn. A long pole stretched up into the air, and at the end was a long blade, making his weapon look like a giant axe. The proportions of it made no sense though; the way he held it, the blade should be stuck to the ground with gravity, but he wielded it like a pro.

"Nice weapon," I said, calling his attention back to me. Christopher smiled and brought his axe in front of him.

"Why thank you..."

"Edward," I told him, "Edward Elric. And this is my brother Alphonse." I pointed to Pacifica and looked at Shannon. "I take it he's one of the guys after her from your country."

Shannon only nodded.

"Well, in that case, I might as well do what I can to help." I clapped my hands together and reached down to the ground, making my choice weapon -a spear- grow out of the ground. The event was sort of meant to intimidate Christopher, sort of show him that he wasn't dealing with just anyone now that he was in a different country, but he only watched with mild interest.

"So that is alchemy, huh?" He asked, looking at the spear. "I have to admit that it is impressive."

"Yeah? I'd like to think so." I was stalling, I admit it, but there was no way I was going to attack him while he was so close to Pacifica. I think Chris knew it too.

Raquel put up her hand to cast magic and I quickly stopped her. "You could hit her," I whispered.

Chris heard. "Yes, and we wouldn't want any harm to come to her, would we?"

Pacifica slapped her hands to the ground. "Argh!!! This is so ridiculous!" She reached behind her and grabbed at Chris's leg. He looked down at her feeble attempt to get him off of her and smiled slightly. I saw my chance.

Dropping my spear, I clapped my hands, and again, slapped them to the ground. It rumbled a little, and a square section flew out of the ground toward Chris, and knocked him back, off of Pacifica, a few feet. Pacifica leapt to her feet and ran back so she was standing behind Shannon.

"Thanks," Shannon said.

"No problem," I told him as I picked up my spear, "but I doubt this fight is over." I pointed to where Chris had landed, and sure enough, he was just getting up.

"That hurt," he said as he wiped the thin line of blood away that had started to run from his mouth. He gripped his axe and swung it so it was behind him, then he ran at us.

Shannon shoved Pacifica back so she was standing with Raquel and Al, and met Chris halfway. Chris spun his axe around and met his blade easily, and continued on to me. I swept my spear around to try to parry his attack, when suddenly the axe broke into three sections, and extended by a thick chain to whip around me.

"What the--?" I cried, stabbing my spear into the ground. I leapt into the air and barely managed to avoid the swing back. The axe did strike my spear though, and the sudden shaking of the only thing holding me up in the air was enough to make me loose my balance and fall to the ground.

"Brother!" Al yelled. I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eye and another block of dirt flew at Chris. He managed to dodge it, but it was enough of a distraction for him to turn his attention back to Shannon.

I had to think fast. It was obvious this guy was trained to do this kind of thing. It was almost as if he was in an army of some sort.

Then I had an idea.

"Raquel!" I ran over to her so Christopher wouldn't hear my idea, and started whispering frantically to her. When I was finished, she put a hand to her chin.

"I don't know if that would work," she said. "Fire needs oxygen to survive, so it seems like a long shot."

"That's okay. It won't be in there for very long," I promised, then looked at Al. He already had a transmutation circle drawn on the ground. "Alright Al, let's do this. Ready Raquel?" She nodded, so I nodded in turn to Al and stepped back.

Al touched the circle and a bright flash lit up the darkening forest. Three balls, roughly a foot each in diameter, and made out of the rocks and dirt that lay on the path sat where the circle once was. Once the light had vanished, Al jumped to his feet and backed away.

"Now Raquel!"

Raquel put her hand out and faced the balls. "People of the flames, dance!"

As soon as the last word left her lips, I had my hands slammed to the ground, transmuting the ground into a small makeshift catapult. In seconds, the balls were flying through the air at Chris and Shannon.

"Get out of there Shannon!" Raquel yelled at her brother. Instead of looking to see what she meant, Shannon immediately leapt back, away from Chris. Chris, however, did exactly what I thought he would do. His axe, now back in one solid piece, slashed through the air in front of him, at the balls. Each of them busted open, revealing the flame that Raquel had contained in each. Met with new oxygen, the almost nonexistent flames spread rapidly through the air, covering anything within a five foot radius, including Chris.

Everyone watched the cloud of flames and smoke as it died away, revealing an obviously upset Chris. Instead of firing a counterattack though, he leapt up into the air, back into the tree he had originally come down from.

"This isn't over," we all heard him call back.

Then he was gone.

"Glad that's over," Pacifica sighed. Then she spun to Raquel, Al and myself. "What was that?! It was awesome!"

Raquel looked at me, and I shrugged. "I just kind of came up with it. I was surprised it worked as well as it did."

Raquel smiled. "Your alchemy is quite amazing."

"So's your magic," Al told her.

"Yeah," Shannon said as he walked up to us. "Let's count ourselves lucky that this forest wasn't burned down."

"That only happened once," Raquel said sadly.

"Yet the damage is permanent."

"You burnt down a forest?!" I was sure if they could, Al's eyes would have gone as wide as saucers.

"It was an accident," she defended.

"It's why we don't let Raquel cook for us," Pacifica added. That explained why when we were camping, Shannon refused animatedly to allow Raquel to start the fire, and instead to do it the hard way with flint.

"So what's that guy's deal?" I asked Shannon. "You guys obviously knew each other."

Shannon nodded. "Yeah. He's one of the assassins after us. We've had more then one run in with him back home."

Pacifica hung her head. "He even kidnapped someone because of me."

"No, he kidnapped Winia to get to me."

Pacifica didn't respond, but instead stood still, staring at the ground, stuck in her memories. This girl amazed me. One moment she could be the most annoying brat in the world, then suddenly she turn quiet and withdrawn. It made no sense. Her emotions could switch drastically in the drop of a hat.

"I suggest we keep moving," I said finally. "If he found us, there are bound to be more behind him."

"And he's bound to tell his superiors that he found us," Al mentioned.

Shannon nodded, and we kept moving.

* * *

_A/N: Enter: my favorite character in Scrapped Princess! While I'm never really clear on when this takes place in each universe, christopher's name should give you a clue as to where we are in the Scrapped Princess world. Similar to Izumi yelling at Ed in a previous chapter, saying she told him never to come back. However, please take this lightly, as if you take it too much to heart, you'll probably spot inconsistencies, which I'm sure there are. R&R please!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	6. Chapter 6 Shopping for Supplies

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 6: Shopping for Supplies and Learning to Say "No"

"We are in need of supplies," Raquel conceited.

Pacifica smiled and put her hands up in victory.

"Absolutely not," Shannon told them. "No towns when we are being chased in a foreign country."

"Come on Shannon!" Pacifica pleaded. "Raquel agrees! We're low on supplies!"

"Shannon's right though," I said, earning a glare from her. "You don't know these towns as well as Al and me do. So we'll go get what you need."

"Yeah!" Pacifica said cheerfully. "Wait. What?"

"We are low on some supplies--" I started.

"Like food," Raquel added.

"So Al and I will go to the nearest town and get them."

"No!" Pacifica pouted. "The whole point was that I wanted to go into town!" She crossed her arms and leaned back against one of the trees we were resting by. Suddenly, a glint sparked in her eyes. "Unless..."

Shannon glared at her. "No way."

"Come on Shannon! I am in serious need of some new scenery! We've been walking through this forest for at least a month now, and it's boring! I need to see people! I'm starting to think that I imagined that there was more to the world."

"First of all, it's been a week, not a month."

"Same difference."

"And second of all," Shannon gave me a pointed glance, "I don't think the Elrics' want to have to worry about you at the same time."

I studied Shannon's glare and was about to agree, when Al spoke up.

"There is a way..."

I spun on Al, immediately picking up on where he was going. "No way," I told him, mirroring Shannon's response to Pacifica.

"Nobody would see her that way!"

I shook my head. "No way, Al! She's not like those stray cats you pick up all the time! You can't just stuff her inside, and expect her to be--"

"What are you talking about?" Pacifica asked, a very confused look on her face. "Stuff who where?"

Before I could stop him, Al reached up to the clasps that kept his breast plate attached and unhooked them. With a loud clang, his breastplate fell to the ground, showing his hollow inside.

"What the..." Pacifica walked up to Al and started peering at the hollow shell that was his body.

"Where's your body?" Raquel asked quietly.

I shut my eyes and shook my head, as if that would get rid of what just happened. I really hadn't planned on telling them about Al, and had they happened to figure it out at all, this was not the way I would have planned it.

"That is Al," I said, opening my eyes. I looked at Shannon, thinking he would understand somehow. "Think back to when your parents died. Did you ever wish you could bring them back somehow?"

Shannon glanced at Pacifica and Raquel, then said, "of course. I would have done anything."

"Well we did," I told him. I slid off my left shoe and pulled off my right glove. "This is our punishment for attempting the impossible."

"You mean your limbs--"

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving up something in return," Al recited. "To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange."

"Makes sense," Shannon reasoned. "So you mean that you did something to cause you to loose your limbs?"

"And Al to loose his body," I said nodding.

Raquel gasped and took a step closer to Al. "Is that what that is?"

I pointed into the armor at the blood seal. "That's all that's left of Al now." I gave him another apologetic glance and Al put a hand on my shoulder.

"It's alright Brother," he said. "I'm just as at fault."

"So what happened?" Pacifica asked, not bothered by the serious atmosphere that had draped itself across our group.

"Shortly after our dad left," I said, getting ready to retell the tale I dream of practically every night since it happened, "our mother was depressed. Al was too young to remember, but I could tell she was hurting." I clenched both of my hands into tight fists. "She was waiting for that bastard to come back. Well, we found his alchemy books and started transmuting things. Mom was ecstatic. She smiled every time we made something." My voice trailed off.

"So we started doing it for her," Al continued. "Because it made her smile, and that was all we cared about. Her smile."

"She got sick," I said, picking up again. "And died. He didn't even come," I spat. " to her funeral."

I got lost in memories of the days shortly after she had died. Al and me were devastated.

"So what did you do?" Shannon asked, bringing us back to reality.

I shook the memories away. "I had read in a book about something called human transmutation, and it kind of snowballed from there."

"We just wanted to see her smile again," Al added, his voice bearly above a whisper.

"You tried to bring her back?" Raquel asked, placing a hand over her heart.

I nodded slowly. "We studied for a while, and even found a teacher for proper training in alchemy. Then we tried it. Our blood, for her blood. We thought that would be equivalent exchange."

"But it wasn't," Al mumbled. I glanced at him, knowing he didn't remember much of that night, while it was forever etched in mine.

"They took my leg, and Al's body in exchange."

"'They'?" Shannon asked.

"The Gate of Truth," I answered. "It's where you pay the toll."

"So you got your mom back, right?" Pacifica asked. She was no longer leaning against the tree, but had her legs pulled up to her and her chin resting on her knees in rapt attention.

I quickly shook my head. "That _thing_ was not our mother."

"So you did it all for nothing..." Raquel mumbled.

Instead of responding to her comment, I continued, "I couldn't live without Al, after all, I was the reason he was taken, so I managed to get back to The Gate and bring his soul back and attach it to the armor. It was all I could get for one arm," I added, shrugging and clenching my metal hand.

"When I came to," Al said, "I was in a suit of armor, and Brother was barely conscience in a pool of blood. Now we travel looking for the philosopher's stone, trying to get our bodies back."

Raquel turned her head to the side. "Can you really do that?"

"With the philosopher's stone, we can," I told her. "The philosopher's stone allows the user to bypass the laws of equivalent exchange. To get something without having to pay the price."

"And your mother?" Shannon asked, crossing his arms.

"Is dead," I said sternly. Then I looked at Al. "And she's going to stay that way. We know that now. What we tried to do was a mistake. One we won't be making again."

Al nodded. "That's right."

Pacifica stood up suddenly, and grabbed Al's breastplate. "So this has to do with going in town how?"

Shannon shot her a look, but in a way I was grateful for the change of subject.

"You can hide in me!" Al said cheerfully. "There's plenty of room in there."

"Al, no!" I told him again.

"Why not? Nobody would see her!"

Pacifica looked happily at Al, and started climbing in without waiting for permission.

"Hey! Don't crawl inside my brother without permission!"

Pacifica froze and looked at me. Then I realized what I had said, and despite my trying to stay serious, I had to laugh.

"We're just buying supplies," I told Pacifica through Al's armor.

"I know, I know." Her voice echoed loudly and I looked around the not-so-crowded streets of the town we were in. I hated this idea. I hated it so much, but what could I do? It was technically Al's body, free to do with what he wanted, but it had to be weird for him, having someone inside him like that. It was one thing when it was a stray cat, but people were so different.

"So what are we getting Ed?" Al asked, trying to act normal.

I looked down at the little list Shannon had given me (all too gladly, I might add). "Basics, looks like. Food mostly, a new blanket..." I squinted, trying to read the messy scrawl. "Does this say...'underwear'?" I felt a sharp smack on the back of my head and almost fell to the ground.

"Sorry Brother!!" Al said frantically. "It wasn't me, I swear!!"

"That's it!" I yelled, grabbing Al's arm and dragging him into the nearest alley. Without waiting for him, I started unhooking his breastplate, revealing the cause of my anger.

"You. Out." I pointed to the ground sternly.

Pacifica folded her arms and turned her head to the side, ignoring me.

Growling, I repeated myself, "Out. _Now_."

Again, she ignored me, not even batting an eye in my direction.

"Fine. We can play this game." I clapped my hands, and her head flipped in my direction.

"What are you doing?"

"Sorry about this Al," I said, starting to slowly reach for Pacifica. "This might make it a little hard to move." Before Pacifica could react, I grabbed her wirsts and slammed them together, transmuting the material of her gloves and armbands to bind together in makeshift cuffs.

"Hey!!" She yelled as I continued to pull her arms up above her head.

"Al?"

"Yeah Brother?"

"Hold her here." An evil grin spread across my face as Al took her hands and gripped them tightly. Pacifica twisted in his grasp, shooting daggers at me with her eyes. I clapped my hands again, and put my hands on Al's shoulders. Thin threads of steel shot out from around Al's neckline and wrapped themselves around Pacifica's wrists, holding her there. Once I was finished, I took a step back to admire my work.

"You can't do this!!" She continued to yell.

"Watch me," I said, "if you don't want to come out, then you are going to stay in there my way." I started looking around for some rope to gag her with. I knew if I left her mouth open like it was, she'd yell as loud as she could, drawing as much attention as she could, and this isn't exactly something I would want to explain.

Finally I ended up taking off my jacket and transmuting it into a temporary rope (I'd fix it once we got back with Shannon and Raquel). Once it was tied securely around her mouth, I put Al's breastplate back on, and walked out of the alley like nothing had happened.

"Fullmetal Sir!"

I flinched at the voice, and decided to ignore it. Maybe they could have mistaken me for someone else. A quick glance up at Al, and I stopped. Not many people walked around with a giant suit of armor.

"Second Lieutenant!" I said, not having to fake my surprise. What was one of Mustang's men doing out here? Granted, we were still pretty close in proximity to Central, but still.

Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc ran up, and I was glad to see he wasn't in uniform. Must mean he had some time off.

"Didn't expect to see you out here," he said as he ran to catch up with Al and I. "Hey Alphonse!"

"Hi!" Al greeted cheerfully. "What are you doing here?"

He checked his watch. "I'm actually meeting a girl in an hour."

"All the way out here?" I asked. "Why not back in Central?"

Jean smiled broadly. "Well, she's an old friend of the Lieutenant's," he said. "I thought I'd make a good impression and come to her."

"She expecting you?"

He nodded energetically. You had to hand it to Havoc. The thought of having the door slammed into his face on arrival didn't even seem to enter his mind.

"So what are you brothers out here for?" he asked, looking between us.

"Well actually," I started, but was cut off by a loud clang coming from inside Al's armor. I quickly put my hand against Al, hoping Havoc would think it was because of me.

"Was that you Al?" he asked, not buying my motions the way I wanted.

I laughed uneasily. "You better not have another cat in there Al," I said, fishing now for a lie, and hoping Al would go with it.

"It looked so sad!" he said.

I patted his arm and gave Havoc a quick smile. "I really should go take care of this," I said, signaling the end of our conversation.

Havoc didn't bite. "You really should stop picking up strays Al," he said disapprovingly.

"Yes, _Al_, you really should." What was it about this guy? Couldn't he see we had somewhere to be?

"If you'll excuse us," I tried again. Thankfully, he nodded.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys later." He started to turn and walk away.

"Oh!" A thought came to me, so I called back to Havoc, making him stop and turn around. "Could you possibly not mention to the Colonel that you saw us?"

Havoc eyed us carefully, before nodding again and walking away.

"That was close," Al sighed.

I tapped on his armor, letting Pacifica know I was talking to her. "Yes. That was close."

"Did you get everything on the list?" Shannon asked as we walked up to our meeting place in the forest.

I nodded and handed him one of two paper bags. Al handed Raquel the other.

"Where's Pacifica?" Raquel asked, setting the bag on the ground.

I stared hard at the siblings. "Before I let her out, I want your word that you will not make me take her into town to get supplies ever again." I crossed my arms and stood my ground, waiting for an answer.

Shannon looked from me to Al. "What did she do?"

"Do I have your word?" I asked again, ignoring his question.

He gave Al another questioning look, then gave a short nod. "Fine."

"Alright then." I stepped in front of Al and helped him in taking off his breastplate. "Pacifica decided to test my abilities," I explained briefly before pulling off the plate and stepping back. Raquel gave a small gasp and Shannon only stared.

"Did you..." Shannon began.

I nodded. "Yes. She took control of Al's body, and refused to get out, so I kept her there on my terms." I glared at her, which she readily returned. "It should be noted that she almost gave us away a few times too." With that, I used alchemy to release her wrists and return her gloves back to normal. I didn't have a chance to untie my jacket/rope before she jumped out of Al and tackled me to the ground.

"YOU!!!" She yelled as she pulled my jacket away from her mouth and pulled it tightly over mine, pinning my head to the ground. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!!"

"Alright," Shannon said, sounding like a parent chastising his children. He reached down and pulled Pacifica off, and I jumped up, ready to brawl it out with her.

"ME?! I TOLD YOU NOT TO COME!"

"ARGH!! YOU STUPID, SHORT--"

That was all it took, and I was flying at her. I was inches away from tackling her to the ground like she had me, but Al had grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SHORT?!?!"

"YOU!!!" she yelled back. "YOU, YOU SHORT LITTLE MAN!!!"

"That's enough!!" Shannon said, practically tossing Pacifica behind him. He put out a hand to keep her back.

I still struggled against Al's grip. "Let me go Al!!"

"Brother, he's right! You need to calm down!"

"I agree," Raquel said suddenly. "I'm sensing people on the perimeter I've set up."

Pacifica sobered instantly, and I forced myself to calm down. I wouldn't be forgetting this though.

"How many?" Shannon asked quickly.

Raquel stood still, her eyes out of focus. "Three. I don't recognize them."  
I shrugged. "They could just be normal people. There's a town nearby," I explained. "It make sense that there would be other people in here besides us."

"Someone should go check," Shannon said, reaching for his side weapon. I took a step forward.

"You and me," I told him. "The others can keep going north. We'll meet up outside the forest. It shouldn't go on for much longer."

Shannon looked at Al and Raquel, seeming to think if it was the best idea.

"They'll be fine. Al's alchemy is almost as good as mine, and it seems like your sister can hold herself in a fight."

Shannon spoke to Raquel. "How far out?"

"About half a mile?" she guessed. "In the direction of the town."

"Could have followed us," Pacifica said.

"_Or_," I stressed, "they could just be other travelers."

"Let's check anyway," Shannon ordered. "We'll meet you on the other side of the forest. If we aren't there by the time the sun sets, keep going north."

I rolled my eyes. "It won't take that long," I said, but he ignored me.

* * *

_A/N: Addmitedly, this is like one of those episodes in an anime that's been going by the manga so far, then suddenly they throw in this random episode that supposed to be, for lack of a better term, a goof-off episode. Still though, since I came up with the idea of a FMA/SP crossover, I thought of Pacifica hiding in Al. It actually played a big part in me doing this at all. R&R please!!_  
_~*Figurine88_


	7. Chapter 7 New Assignment

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 7: New Assignment

"You always this protective?" I asked once we were alone.

"We're all we have," Shannon explained seriously. "It's wrong that they are going after Pacifica."

"She's not even your real sister."

Shannon glared at me.

"Sorry, I just don't see why you're willing to go so far for someone that doesn't share your blood."

"I remember the day my mother and father brought her home. 'This is your new sister,' they said. 'Protect her.' So I have. And I am." He looked forward and started to guide us off the road so we wouldn't be seen by whomever it was that had breeched Raquel's perimeter.

"Wouldn't you do anything for Al? Haven't you?"

I smiled sadly. "Yeah, I guess I have, and I still would." I looked down at my right hand, covered in it's glove. "Al must hate me for what I've done to him," I mumbled.

Shannon glanced at me. "Why do you think that?"

"When Mom died, it was my idea to bring her back. Al just went along with it. He tried to stop me once it got close, but I didn't listen." I shook my head. "He's the way he is because of me. If it were the other way around, I'm not so sure I could deal with it."

He stopped and faced me. "I don't think Al sees it that way."

"You don't?" I asked, a little cenacle that he would think that.

"No. I can only tell you how I would feel if I were in your shoes. He's just as responsible for it as you are. If he had really wanted to stop you, I'm sure he could have, and would have done more. But as it is, he didn't. So it's his cross to bear."

"His cross," I mumbled, "but it bears my name."

It became more obvious the closer to town we got that this might not be a simple case of stray townsfolk out on a leisurely walk. Not long after we left the path, Shannon found evidence of where someone had been standing in the same spot for a while. Matching what he believed to be the spot, he said that it wasn't unreasonable to think that they had been watching us.

"Kids playing games," I told him, not completely ready to accept that we at least had been watched, despite the evidence.

He shook his head. "I don't think so." He pointed to the tree the prints were by. Carved neatly into the trunk of the tree was a small notch. Just the kind you would use if you had a gun.

"I don't suppose you have guns in your country?" I asked half-heartedly.

Shannon gave me a confused look.

"I was afraid of that..." I mumbled. "It's the military, and they're not going to be easy to catch."

Shannon looked at the dirt and watched me. "So what do we do? These are your people."

"I don't think it will be a problem," I said with forced confidence. "They're dealing with the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"That you Fullmetal?" came a familiar voice.

"Dammit," I swore under my breath and shoved Shannon behind the tree, thankful that it was so wide. "Havoc! What are you doing here? In the woods? I thought you were meeting a girl?"

Havoc shifted and an uneasy look crossed his face. "She was busy," he dodged. "So I thought I would go for a walk. What are you doing out here? Where's Alphonse?"

I glanced around, trying to think of a response. "I...I was just looking for him!" Yeah, that could work. "We got separated. Have you seen him?"

Havoc squinted his eyes a little, studying my reaction. "No. I haven't."

"Oh. Well, I'd better find him." I turned to walk away, hoping Havoc would mimic me and leave. No such luck.

"Hey Chief," he called, making me stop.

"Yeah?"

"I have to tell the Colonel," he said seriously. I spun around and looked at him.

"Tell him what?"

He nodded to the tree that was a few feet away. Shannon's side could be seen from where I was, and I was pretty confident that Havoc could see it too.

"I'll have to tell him that you're destroying the trees."

My eyes flew to the notch and I sighed. Something to thank our trackers for.

"R-right. See you later then," I said, waving goodbye. Thankfully, he took the hint and walked away.

"He in your military?" Shannon asked once Havoc was gone.

I nodded. "He's on my superior's team."

"Doesn't seem very bright."

Shrugging, I nodded back the way we came. "Should we just go meet them? It's clear that whomever it was that was watching us is gone now."

"Yeah. Let's go."

Shannon seemed really interested in the Amistrian military after that, so we spent the rest of the walk trough the forest talking about that.

"So State Alchemists get ranks equivalent to Major then?" he asked.

I nodded. "That's right. Though some, like Colonel Mustang have reached higher in the army."

We were reaching the end of the forest now, where we should meet up with Al and Shannon's sisters.

"How about you?"

"Me?" I asked, not ready for his question. "What about me?"

"Don't you want to get promotions?"

I quickly shook my head. "No way. The only reason I joined the military was so I could get my hands on the research materials that are only permitted to State Alchemists."

"That's all?"

"What do you mean that's all?"

He put out his hands defensively. "I only mean that it seems a little...to use your terms, unequivocal. You join this military, become their...'dog' you called it, and in return you get to see this material of past alchemists. What if you get called into battle, and loose your life? Think that's equivalent exchange?"

"Shut up," I said quickly. "You're starting to piss me off. It's easy for someone on the outside to misunderstand."

"Then make me understand," Shannon said.

I sighed, really not wanting to talk about it. Yes, that thought had crossed my mind. Say I did get called to fight some war the military started in the first place, and died. What would come of my death? What payment would that be?

"Hold up," Shannon whispered urgently. He put out a hand to stop me, which I ran into. We both knelt down.

"What is it?" I whispered back.

He pointed ahead of us, where we could see the break in the forest. We had reached the end. The problem was, Al, Raquel and Pacifica were nowhere in sight. Who were in sight, however, were about twelve uniformed military men. Parked a few yards away from them was a covered military truck, used for transporting criminals.

"Dammit," I hissed.

"Do you think the others got away okay?" Shannon asked quietly.

I thought a moment before shaking my head. "I doubt it. I'm thinking whoever was watching us before is part of that little group."

Shannon unsheathed his sword and started to stand up. I quickly put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back to the ground.

"Get off!" he said loudly.

"Shh!" A couple of guards glanced in our direction. "You go out there now, you won't stand a chance." I pointed at myself with my thumb. "These are my people. Let me deal with it." With that I gave him a final shove to the ground and stood up, walking confidently towards the guards.

"Halt!" A few commanded once they spotted me. Ignoring them, I continued walking as if I hadn't heard them.

"Hey!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and instinctively grabbed it and flipped the man. Once he was on the ground, I fiend surprise.

"Private," I greeted, recognizing the bars on his uniform. I put out a hand to help him up. "You really shouldn't sneak up on a superior officer." I pulled out my pocket watch. As soon as he saw the silver chain, he snapped to attention.

"Apologies Sir!" he said briskly. The other officers that had spotted me went to attention as well.

"Hey, no problems, right?" I joked. I looked around. "Say, what would the military be doing in a place like this?"

The Private in front of me looked around to his other enlistees for answers. When they didn't respond, he looked back at me.

"Guarding, Sir."

I raised an eyebrow. "'Guarding'? Guarding what? What could possibly take..." I pretended to count, "twelve officers to guard?" Then I "spotted" the military transport. "Ah, high class prisoners?" I was lying, of course, but they didn't need to know that. What they needed to do was let me see the prisoners so I could help them to escape.

The Private nodded.

"And you're superior officer?" If it was just the twelve enlistees out here, I wouldn't have a problem, but there was no chance that. The military didn't send out a group this big without somebody to be in charge.

"Colonel Roy Mustang, Sir!" he announced.

Well fuck.

Without saying anything to the private, I stormed toward the truck, knowing I'd find him inside.

"Damn you Mustang!" I yelled as I ripped open the curtains to the back of the truck. Sitting on the side benches inside was Raquel, who was sitting next to Pacifica. Across from them was Al, and beside him, with his arms folded and calmly leaning against the wall of the truck was Roy Mustang.

"That's no way to address a superior officer Fullmetal," he responded coolly.

"Screw you," I spat. "What the Hell are you doing here?" My thoughts drifted to Havoc. "Havoc here on your orders too?"

Mustang looked up. "This morning I received a call from the Second Lieutenant saying that he wouldn't be able to come in today. Could I help it if he happened to be going to the same place I was?"

I fisted my hands and glared angrily at him.

"Brother wait!" Al said, getting ready to stand up, but seeming to decide against it. He was barely scrapping the top of the truck as it was. "It's okay, really!"

"Oh yeah?" I asked sarcastically, still glaring at Mustang.

"Indeed Edward. I'm of no harm to you right now, even though you are harboring fugitives. You're lucky it was me who found them, instead of the other teams that were sent out."

"Was it you following us in the woods?"

He smirked. "And you wouldn't have known anything about it if it wasn't for her magic," he said, nodding toward Raquel.

"Um, Ed?" Pacifica asked suddenly. "Where's Shannon?"

I shot a glance towards the woods, but spoke to Mustang, "why don't you ask him. I'm sure he knows, right _Colonel_?"

"Ed!" Al chastised.

"If you're no harm to us, then what are you going to do? Help us?" I chuckled.

"Well, you were wrong if you thought I would just let you pass," he replied calmly.

"Then what? Take us back to Central?"

"Actually Fullmetal," he addressed as he sat up formally, "I have another mission for you."

"I'm busy."

He shook his head. "That won't do. You do remember our agreement? You go on the missions assigned to you, I let you use your free time to look for the stone?"

"What's the stone?" Pacifica asked.

I only stared at Mustang.

"So you'll take the mission?"

I still didn't answer, opting for the "if you can't say anything nice" method.

"Good." He pulled a folder out of seemingly nowhere and handed it to me. Still angry, I yanked the folder from his hand and opened it up. Scanning the contents, I had to look up to Mustang to make sure I was reading it right.

"This says I'm to go to Rhune. That city is in the north."

"Hmm. Is it?" He put a hand to his chin and pretended to think it over. "I suppose it is. Close to the border too, if memory serves." I narrowed my eyes, still not really believing it.

"You're to leave as soon as possible," he ordered. "And I expect you not to get lost this time."

"You're just going to let us go then?"

Mustang stood, slightly hunched over, and put his hands in his pockets. "I have just given my subordinate an assignment I expect to be completed. As for who accompanies him on this mission, I couldn't care less."

He hopped out of the back of the truck. "And Fullmetal?"

"Yeah?"

He looked hard at me. "There's a train leaving for the next town in an hour. It would be a shame if you missed it."

With that, he walked around to his men and I heard him call them to attention.

"Let's go," I announced, not waiting to see if anyone was going to come check on us.

"Where's Shannon?" Pacifica asked again, this time sounding a little agitated that she even had to ask again.

"He's in the forest," I told her as I climbed down from the back of the truck. "We have to get to town." Once we were all out of the truck, we ran past Mustang, who was commanding his men to do push-ups. Despite all his help, I couldn't help but wonder how this was going to come back and bite me in the ass later.

As soon as we met up with Shannon, I had Al fill us in on what had happened when we separated as we ran through the forest to the town.

"We were waiting when the military truck pulled up," he explained in a raised voice so as to be heard above the clanking of his armor. "We were going to run, when Colonel Mustang hopped out and stopped us."

Yeah, I could picture that. I was sure that as soon as he saw Mustang, Al stopped there was no effort from the Colonel involved.

"So where are we going now?" Shannon asked breathlessly.

"Town," I answered, only starting to get tired. We had cleared about half of the forest. "We're gonna take a train to the next town."

"Is that really safe?" he asked. "What if there are more military guys on it?"

"The Colonel wouldn't send us on a train with people who are looking for you," Al said.

_At least we hope not,_ I thought, but didn't say. No need to worry them about that.

* * *

_A/N: I always hated reading the fanfics where pretty much every other word that came out of Ed's mouth was a swear word. However, to not have him do it at all would be totally OoC. While I could have taken the high road and chosen a different word to show Ed's surprise at hearing the solider call out Mustang's name, nothing seemed just as right as "oh fuck." And btw, Rhune is a made up town. As mentioned before, I don't have a map of Amistris, so I don't have the first clue as to what's up there. R&R please!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	8. Chapter 8 Learning of the Enemy

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 8: Learning of the Enemy

"It's too much to hope for a private cabin," I announced as we walked toward the back of the train. Al sat in the seat against the back wall so he could see over the seats into the rest of the car. Shannon sat beside him, and Pacifica and Rachel across from them and beside me. Pacifica plastered her face against the window, trying to get a better look at the train. Raquel continuously asked me questions (which Al answered for me) about the train. Apparently their country didn't have any. Myself, however, decided to use the time to look over the file Mustang had given me. There would be hell to pay if I didn't complete this assignment. Within minutes of sitting down, the train started to move, sending with it a whole new wave of questions from Raquel.

"What is it Brother?" Al asked, watching me look over the folder.

"Someone's been destroying the surrounding towns," I explained. "Looks like Rhune is the next target. I've got to go in and inspect the situation."

"Isn't that something more for the general military, and less for the State Alchemists to do?" he asked.

Shrugging, I said, "that's what I thought, but it's giving us a chance to get them to the border, so it should be a breeze. Just find the guy and stop him."

"Is there a description?"

I flipped through a few of the pages and found a sketch of what witness reports had described the perp having looked like, and passed it to Al.

"Looks like some crazy alchemist can't control his creation," I joked. The perp hadn't looked like a person at all, but some giant thing that could only be used to cause destruction. It had broad shoulders (if you could call them that), and stretched down to a point at the bottom, giving it an almost triangle look. What I could only think to describe as wings stretched out behind it, seemingly keeping it in the air.

"What is this?" Al asked in wonder. I saw Shannon glance at the picture in mild interest, then suddenly he ripped the picture out of Al's hands, a frantic look on his face.

"Peacemaker!" he practically yelled.

Raquel and Pacifica snapped forward in their seats, looking hard at their older brother. "Here?" Pacifica asked, her voice laced with fear.

"In Amistris?" Raquel this time.

His grip on the picture tightened, causing it to crinkle slightly. "Yes," he hissed.

I yanked the picture away before he could do anymore damage to it. "What are you guys talking about?"

Shannon took a couple of breaths to calm himself before explaining, his voice still tense, "Peacemakers are beings employed by the church of Mouser to kill the Scrapped Princess. They destroy towns and things that they think have helped her in any way."

"And to lure me out," Pacifica added softly. She leaned back in her seat and wrapped her arms around her chest. "I don't even know them," she whispered. "Those are innocent people!" Raquel leaned over and put an arm around her sister.

"Pacifica..." Shannon whispered.

"So how do you beat these things?" I asked.

"Shannon is the only one that can," Raquel said as she started to stroke Pacifica's hair. I looked to Shannon for answers.

He nodded. "Zepheris," he said, "is a Dragoon that can kill them. By combining with her, I get the power needed to defeat them."

"And who is this 'Zepheris'?" Al asked.

"She comes and goes," Shannon explained, this dislike clear in his tone.

I nodded, and pretended that I understood. "All this to get rid of you?" I asked, looking at Pacifica, who was still curled into a ball. Shannon glared at me. "I just mean," I said quickly, trying to prevent a fight, "it's a little much, isn't it? She's just one girl. If your entire country is after her, shouldn't they have been able to get her already?"

"I'll protect her," Shannon said defensively.

I shook my head. He wasn't understanding. "That's all well and good, but you're one guy. With Raquel that makes two of you. Against an entire country? I'm sorry, but I just can't see how you guys have managed to survive, unless your country is full of a bunch of military personnel that can't tell their left from their right." I gave an involuntary shudder. If the Amistris military was after them now too, there was trouble. While most of what the military does is stupid, it's done smartly and is well planned.

"We never stay in one place for very long," Raquel explained. "We're constantly moving to throw them off our trail."

I glanced at Pacifica. She didn't look to pleased about this.

"Fine," I said, wanting to wipe the conversation clean. "At the very least, now you have something on your team that you didn't have before."

"And what's that?" Shannon asked dully.

I pointed a thumb at myself and smiled brightly. "An Alchemist!"

About a day later we arrived at Rhune. It was just about as north as you could get without getting into the brutal snows of the mountains. The plus of this was that there was grass everywhere. The minus was that it was cold. And this wasn't a slight chill that came through whenever the wind decided to blow, this was a bitter, frozen-to-the-bone kind of cold. Needless to say, I was never coming here again if I could avoid it.

On the train, Shannon had informed Al and me all about the Peacemakers, and they didn't seem like pushovers. It would take a well thought out plan to get rid of them, and, well, lets just say I was more of a "think on my feet" kind of guy. I could make a plan, but most of the time that seemed to go badly. Besides, thinking on my feet was how I got my Alchemist's license.

The town was pretty much empty since all of the surrounding towns had been destroyed. We were lucky to find an inn to stay at. The innkeeper was a hunched over old woman that had to have been here since before the country was formed, most likely in the same spot. This was why she refused to be moved by "something as trivial as this". Pacifica, however, was happy that the town was so empty. She seemed to think that the less people that were there, the better. Which I have to agree with. The less people that are there, the less casualties there will inevitably be.

I was walking through the streets with Pacifica now, trying to get a feel for the location and form a plan. Al was discussing tactical advantage over the Peacemaker with Shannon, and Raquel was laying out a magical barrier. Since Pacifica didn't want to stay cooped up in the room the whole time, she was with me, which honestly, wasn't that bad. She seemed to get the seriousness of what was going on, and was walking quietly beside me with her hands behind her back, looking up at the buildings as we passed them.

To fight against the cold, I had transmuted some old material that the old woman had into thick coats. They weren't much to look at, but it was better then freezing, which I was more prone to then the others due to my automail.

"Why's it so cold here?" Pacifica said suddenly.

I pointed in the direction I believed to be north and answered, "Brigs Mountain is that way. The cold that coats that area apparently stretches down here." I stopped to rub at my leg where the metal touched the flesh.

"Are you okay?" she asked from a few feet in front of me. When she noticed I wasn't beside her anymore, she must have stopped and turned around.

"Just fine," I told her, standing back up. "Where my automail meets my skin is more sensitive to the cold."

"Are you gonna be okay?"

I nodded. "I just shouldn't stay outside for very long."

Pacifica laughed. "Maybe Al should have come out instead!"

Probably so, actually. At least he doesn't have to worry about frostbite. "It wouldn't be a problem if I had the right kind of automail." I had known that it was cold up here, but nothing I had heard told me it was this cold.

"Should we go back?" I asked, turning in the direction we came from.

Pacifica looked around, then shrugged, seemingly deciding she'd rather be cooped up and warm.

"Where was the last sighting of the Peacemaker?" Al asked at dinner.

"Town a few miles north of here," I replied, recalling the report Mustang had given me.

Pacifica shivered. "I'd hate to think how cold that place is..." she said.

"Was," I corrected. "All of the towns that the Peacemaker has been seen visiting was completely wiped out." I looked at Shannon. "You said these things can take human form?"

"Yeah. They do that so they can interact with other people and the heads of the Church of Mauser."

"Now our military," Al added.

"I don't know if that's what this is," I announced. "These reports started before I met you guys. That means the Peacemaker was already here."

Raquel set her fork down and stared at me. "Then you think this isn't a Peacemaker?"

I quickly shook my head. "No, not at all. That picture is clearly not something ever seen in Amistris, and all three of you identified it as a Peacemaker, right?" They all nodded. "Then that's what it is."

"Oh," Al said, realizing where I was going. "You think he's acting on his own?"

"Yes." I turned to Shannon. "You told me that you guys got close to a Peacemaker before it had awakened."

"Do you mean Cz?" Pacifica asked.

"Whatever her name was. I think that's the same case here." I leaned back in my seat and watched them for their reactions.

"Stray Peacemaker awakens and doesn't know how to use it's powers?" Shannon suggested.

"Something like that," I reasoned. "I think it's testing itself. Destroying these towns is something like practice for it."

"That's all well and good, but when Cz awakened, she had help. There were two other Peacemakers there," he explained.

"Oh." Didn't count on that.

"Is it possible that they came here and helped this one too?" Al suggested.

"No," Shannon and I said together.

"They wouldn't just leave him here," I continued.

"I agree," Shannon said, looking at Al. "The purpose of the Peacemakers is to wipe out Pacifica. I don't think they would want to destroy other countries."

"Unless they knew we were coming here," Pacifica said quietly.

"But there's no way for them to know, right?" Raquel looked at Shannon, worried.

He shook his head. "I don't think they have that kind of power."

"Master."

Shannon's head spun around.

"Who was that?" I asked, watching his odd behavior.

In the corner of the room, a girl had appeared. She had long purple hair and was transparent.

"Zepheris!" Shannon jumped out of his seat and ran to the corner of the room. "Where have you been?"

The girl flicked a little bit, but didn't answer.

"This is that girl you told me about? I asked as I walked over next to Shannon. "She doesn't look that powerful."

"Master I apologize. I can not interfere in the matters that involve this country." Her voice was dry and monotone.

"Then why didn't you tell us that before we crossed the border?" he practically yelled at her.

"I am sorry. I tried, but could not reach you. It is taking almost all of my power to speak to you like this. Master," her head moved so she was looking up at Shannon, her eyes almost pleading. "Master, you must leave this country." She flickered again.

"Some sort of program?" Al whispered to me. Zepheris turned her head to look straight ahead again.

"I am a Dragoon," she responded mechanically, then looked back at Shannon. "You must leave. I cannot help you as long as you are here. There are Peacemakers present. It is vital that you get Pacifica to safety."

She started to flicker more violently now, like a light that was trying to stay alive. "You...ust...lea-" her broken speech was cut off as she vanished.

Shannon shook his head. "Dammit!" He turned back towards his room. "Let's go."

"Wait," I called as I ran after him. "Go where?"

He stopped abruptly, causing me to almost run into him. "You heard her, we can't stay here." He started to walk again.

"Wait just a minute," I yelled, grabbing his arm. He twisted and slammed my back against the wall, his sword out and at my neck.

"You will not stop us. I will not risk Pacifica's life when were are so close to the border."

"Ed!" Al called. He bent down at the floor and started to draw a transmutation circle.

"Don't Al," I ordered. He stopped and looked at me. "What's wrong with you?" I asked Shannon. "You were just ready to help us with this Peacemaker. Now you're ready to run off?"

"That was when I thought I would be able to call on Zepheris!" he spat, pushing me harder against the wall. "Those things aren't such pushovers that you can beat them with just Alchemy."

"Look," I said as I started to place my hands together, "if this thing is new like we all seem to agree, I think that gives us some sort of tactical advantage. And if I'm not enough, I know some people that I can call in to help." I reached a hand up to the blade and it started to glow bright blue. Once the light vanished, the tip of the blade had been changed into a tan ball with eyes, a tongue sticking out, and a large yellow antennae sticking out of the top. Shannon pulled the blade away and glared at me.

"Change it back."

I put my hands out like I had no idea what he was talking about. "All I need is a day to contact a few people, and we won't be alone. I'm sure we can take care of this..." I stopped to yawn dramatically, "...thing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I apparently have some calls to make before I go to bed. Come on Al." Al stood up and followed me down one of the halls towards the phone.  
"Why didn't you change Shannon's blade back Ed?" he asked as I picked up the phone.

"Something to keep him here," I told him, then spoke into the phone. "Major Edward Elric for Colonel Roy Mustang of Central Command."

* * *

_A/N: Zepheris's name is misspelled, I believe. I don't own the books or the anime, so I had no access to seeing how it was spelled. I *think* it's spelled with an "X" instead of a "Z". If you know, please tell me so I can correct it! R&R please!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	9. Chapter 9  A Battle Plan

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 9: A Battle Plan

"Okay Fullmetal." Colonel Roy Mustang stood just inside the door of the inn, arms folded, staring at me like I had interrupted him in the middle of some important mission. "Want to explain to my why I came all the way out here with my team?"

Said team was just outside the door, standing in the chilling cold that was the town. They were all huddled together against the cold, save for Lt. Hawkeye, who was standing beside Mustang, seemingly oblivious to the cold.

"I believe you've met Pacifica and Raquel," I said, pointing to the two that were just a few feet behind me. "And Shannon there, is their brother."

Mustang looked at them, then me. "So this isn't about the mission I gave you to complete?"

"About that Colonel," Al said, coming forward. He held out the picture for Mustang to take.

"This was in the report I gave you," he commented as he studied the picture.

"A Peacemaker," Shannon informed him. He stared at Mustang and his men, obviously not completely trusting them.

Mustang lifted his head to look at Shannon and I noticed the rest of his team outside did the same.  
"A what?"

"A Peacemaker," he repeated. "Beings with the purpose of destroying the Scrapped Princess."

"The Scrapped Princess?" Hawkeye looked at Pacifica and Raquel. "That story is true?"

Pacifica gave a small smile and nodded.

"Somewhat," Shannon told her. "It's true in that they want Pacifica dead," he spat. "But their reasons however..."

"They believe she's going to destroy the world," Mustang finished for him. "That's what the Feuror told us. That's why we are supposed to report as soon as we find her or see her." He snickered. "It was even implied that we were allowed to take her out if we saw fit."

Shannon narrowed his eyes and reached for his sword.

"Relax," Mustang quickly said. "I have no intention of reporting you. As far as my report goes-"  
"Edward," Hawkeye said, stepping forward, "you requested assistance on your mission. We are here to help."

I smiled. "I was hoping you would say that."

"This is a map of the town from two years ago," the innkeeper said as she brought out a roll of parchment. "It's the newest one I could find."

Al took the scroll and laid it out on the table we were all crowded around.

"It doesn't look much different," I commented. "I've been through the main streets of this place with Pacifica, and the only thing that's changed are some of the buildings."

Mustang nodded and pulled out a pen. "Good. While you guys were on your way here, this Peacemaker hit another town. About a day from here."

"It's getting closer," I said. This wasn't surprising. It seemed to be staying in the same area for the most part, so it was only a matter of time before it got here. "Do the higher-ups at military command know about it?"

"They'd be stupid not too," he replied. "But as for if they plan on doing anything about it..."

"They probably think that the others will come to take care of it," Shannon said. When Mustang gave him a confused look, he continued, "the Peacemakers tend to hang out together. It's weird that this one awoke without the others. If your military has been active in the search for us, then it's not unreasonable for them to have at least heard about the Peacemakers."

Mustang leaned back in his chair. "That explains the look I got from General Hakuro when I told him I would be coming out to help you, Ed."

"So we can't expect any additional help from the military?" Al asked.

"That's fine," I answered before anyone else had a chance. "We can take this thing out."

"You're being stupid," Shannon said hotly. "These things aren't something that you can just 'take out'."

"He's right Chief," Havoc said. "We passed through the town that was just hit. There was nothing left."

"So, what then? We're just supposed to let it go through and destroy the rest of our country? Cause that's what's going to happen if we don't do anything!" I stood up and furiously pounded my hands into the table top.

"Relax Brother!" Al said as he pulled my hands away. There was a significant crack in the wood where my right hand had been. Forcing myself to breath and fixed the table with alchemy.

"We're not just going to leave, Edward," Mustang said. "We just need to come up with a plan." He pointed at the map. "The last town hit was in this direction, so it'll probably hit the town from this way. Havoc, and Hawkeye, I want you on top of buildings close to the edge. You're to report when you see it and possibly see if you can't shoot it down."

"That's not going to happen," Shannon mumbled.

"Fury," he continued, "I want you to stay here with the communications equipment. Pacifica will stay here with you."

"What?" she yelled. "No way am I gonna stay here! There has to be something I can do!"

Shannon looked at Mustang, then back at Pacifica. "I agree."

"What? Shannon!"

"Pacifica, if you are out there, that's one more person we have to worry about."

"Good." Mustang pointed to Breada and Falman. "You two are going to set up additional guns and support on..." he pointed to a couple areas on the map, "here, and here."

"Fullmetal, you, your brother and I will-"

"Al and I are going to lay some traps for this thing," I interrupted. Mustang raised an eyebrow at me. "It shouldn't be too hard, right? Raquel can use magic and stuff, so she can help too."

"Is that true?" Mustang asked her. She nodded with a smile. "What kind?"

She shrugged and put a finger to her lips. "Well, I can summon the god of thunder, Thor, and I can do shields and things."

"Perfect. How far do these span?"

"What do you mean?"

I looked at Mustang, and understood what he was getting at. "Would you be able to shield all of us separately, or would that be too much?"

She looked around at the group. "This is a pretty big town, so it's doubtful. Maybe a few of us."

Havoc looked at Mustang, then myself. "Simple then. Shield the Colonel, Fullmetal, Alphonse, and Pacifica."

Raquel looked at the three of us. "I think I could manage that."

"What about our alchemy?" Al asked. "Can it be used through the shield?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," she responded.

"Great," Mustang said. "This isn't going to be easy people. We should start getting set up now. We don't know when this thing is going to show up."

"Uh, Colonel?" Breda was pressed against one of the windows, his hand outstretched to the rest of us. "You might want to see this."

I followed Mustang to the window while the others pushed themselves against the rest of the windows to see what he was talking about.

Off in the darkening horizon was a shape. It was hard to make out, but once I squinted my eyes, I could make out the shape of something similar to the picture I was given in the report. The distinct shape of a Peacemaker.

"Dammit," Shannon hissed. "Now what's the plan?"

* * *

_A/N: Sorry it's such a short chapter this time! We're almost at the end of part one, and I wanted to make sure I left something of substance for the final chapters. This was the best place to cut it off for the future chapters. R&R please!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	10. Chapter 10 Protecting the ScraPrin

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 10: Protecting the Scrapped Princess

"No time to waste people," Mustang commanded. "Let's move!" The rest of his team ran to the truck they had come in and started unloading gear. Fury took over setting up a basic communication center while Havoc handed out little headsets to wear. Hawkeye was perched on top of the building, watching the Peacemaker through the scope on her gun. Shannon was telling Mustang and anyone else who would listen as much as he could about the Peacemaker, and I was running frantically all over the town with Al and Raquel, trying to gather any people that were still in the town and get them to the inn. So far we had found about twenty.

"It's getting closer!" Al said as we ran out of an empty store.

"I can see that Al," I said back. "Hey Mustang!" I spoke into the headset I was wearing.

"Yeah Fullmetal?"

"If we take this thing out, I want a promotion."

There was a pause on the other line, then, "I think that can be arranged."

We ran back to the inn, where the rest of the town was gathered.

"Why don't we give this place more protection?" I suggested to Al and Mustang. Al immediately started drawing a transmutation circle in the dirt outside the inn while Mustang made sure the people were clear of the walls. About a minute later, the building was glowing with the power of a transmutation. When the light vanished, the simple little inn looked like a fortress. One tiny door stood at the front, the only entrance and exit.

"Fury?" Mustang called into his headset. "We're heading out now." He looked up on the roof, where Hawkeye was standing with Havoc. "As soon as you can get a clear shot!" The two nodded and Mustang looked at me. "Well Fullmetal? What now?"

I looked around him in the direction of the Peacemaker. It was still at least a mile out of town, and it was huge.

"Should we go meet it?" Al suggested.

I shook my head. "Not a very good idea, but come with me!" I took off for the town's border, Mustang, Al, Raquel and Shannon following after me. "Spread out!" I ordered as we got closer. Immediately, we broke away from each other, covering a big chunk of the front of the town.

As soon as I stopped, I had my hands clapped and down on the ground. Towering dirt spikes spread out in front of the town. I looked down in the direction Al had gone and saw that he was mimicking me.

"Colonel!" Hawkeye's voice came of the headset. When Mustang responded, I heard her continue, "Sir, it's gone!"

"What? What do you mean gone?"

"Dammit!" I heard Shannon yell. I glanced around the spikes and saw him running out towards where the Peacemaker had been. Sure enough, it was gone.

"Shannon!" I yelled, running after him. Somehow, I managed to catch up with him, but couldn't get him to stop.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked him. He pulled out his sword. "Hawkeye said it was gone!"

"It's not gone!" he yelled. "It's changed forms!" I looked ahead and saw the outline of what looked like a person.

_Guardians._

Was that voice in my head?

_You must hand over the Scrapped Princess at once._

"What the hell is going on?" I asked Shannon.

He shook his head. "That's what they do! Don't listen to them!"

He continued running and we could now make out the outline better. It was a young blond man, with short, messy hair and a thin ponytail coming down in front of his ear. He wore a long white cloak and his eyes were solid black.

"Colonel!" Fury this time. "You better get back here! The townspeople are acting weird!"

"What's going on?" he called back.

_Kill the Scrapped Princess._

I heard Pacifica's yell echo through someone's headset who was close by.

"Pacifica!" Shannon turned and ran back towards the town.

"Hey!" I called to the figure, letting Shannon go back on his own. The figure didn't even look in my direction, but continued to come towards the town so smoothly, that it was like it was floating.

"Edward, get out of there!" Shannon yelled. "That's the Peacemaker!"

Part of me wanted to fight it here, it didn't look so tough like this, but the thing didn't even seem to see me.

"Edward!" Mustang ordered. "Return to the inn immediately! That's an order!"

Well, I was never really one to follow orders, but since we were up against something none of us had ever really faced before (save for the Casulls'), it seemed prudent to listen just this once.

I met up with Al on the way back to the inn. "What's going on?" I asked him. He shrugged. "You know as much as I do."

We made it to the inn just as the door broke down and Pacifica ran out into the street.

"Pacifica!" Shannon ran forward and grabbed his sister. Raquel did the same.

The townspeople filed silently out of the inn and into the street, forming a circle around us.

"What's going on?" Mustang demanded.

_Kill the Scrapped Princess._

That voice again!

I looked at the townspeople. Their eyes had gone solid black like the Peacemaker's, only with bright red pupils. I looked up. The Peacemaker was directly above us in the sky! How had it gotten up there?

_Kill the Poison of the World,_ the voice demanded.

"Yes," I answered. Wait, what? I felt my hands move to clap together, and my left ran down my right, changing my automail into the blade.

_Kill the Scrapped Princess. _

"Shannon?" I saw Pacifica, sitting on the ground in front of Shannon. I saw him there, with his sword raised above his head and facing his sister, but I couldn't do anything. Instead, in the back of my mind, I wanted to help him.

"Brother!" called a voice so close to me, yet so far away. "Edward! Ed, what are you doing?"

Apparently I was taking small steps forward, towards Pacfica. I hadn't understood before, but now it made sense. Yes. She had to die. She was going to destroy this world. All of us were going to die because of her. She must be annihilated.

An arm wrapped around me and held me back. I struggled against it - nothing was going to keep me from my mission.

"Shannon, Please! Raquel!" Pacifca's pleading voice bearly reached my ears.

Then, suddenly, I heard a loud, echoing, "NOOOOOOOOO!" followed by a piercing bell. Something pushed me back hard against the suit of armor standing behind me and I blacked out.

"Brother?" I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. I was laying on my back, Al was standing over me. "Colonel, he's awake!" I tried to set up and Al grabbed an arm to help.

"What's going on?" I looked around. We were out on the street with the townspeople. Pacifica was being hugged by Shannon and Raquel. I winced and grabbed my head. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Al asked.

I squinted my eyes against the pain in the back of my head. "The last thing I remember was Shannon running out after the Peacemaker."

"It seems we were under some sort of spell," Mustang answered dully. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"A spell, Colonel?"

"He's right brother," Al defended. "The entire town was acting weird. You guys too! Everyone surrounded Pacifica and you, Raquel, Shannon and the Colonel and his men all tried to kill Pacifica!"

I glanced over to Pacifica. She seemed fine, though her tear-stained face may say otherwise. "What?"

"It's true! I had to hold you back! But then Pacifica cried out, and everything seemed to freeze for a moment. Then you were thrown back against me." He pointed to a small dent in the breastplate of his armor. "You got knocked out from the impact."

I rubbed the back of my head again. "The Peacemaker?"

"Gone," Mustang answered. "I have men out looking for tracks though."

I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but Pacifica had walked over, Raquel and Shannon standing behind her.  
"I'm so sorry," she said, bowing deeply. I stood up.

"What are you apologizing for?" Al asked kindly.

"This is our fault-" she shook her head and corrected herself, "_my_ fault. We'll be going now, so you won't have to worry about it happening again." Shannon put a hand on Pacifica's shoulder, making her turn around.

"The military has probably already heard about what's happened here," Mustang announced loudly.

"Is that so?" Shannon said, glancing back over his shoulder.

"Yeah. Which means they'll be looking for you even harder then before."

"Then I suppose we'll just have to get across the border quickly."

"They'll have the borders covered in less time then it takes for you to get to them."

I looked at Mustang. Just what was he trying to do?

Shannon stopped and turned around. "So then, just what do you expect us to do?"

"Since the military has already been informed no doubt, it follows that they would inform your county that there is a stray Peacemaker here. They will probably do one of two things. Send your other Peacemakers here to get him and take him back, or send your other Peacemakers here to help him get her." He pointed to Pacifica. "Having that many Peacemakers in the county at one time is not a good idea," he continued.

"So?" Shannon tapped a foot, still not seeing the point.

"We plant false leads," the Colonel suggested. "Some sightings of you in some southern towns-"  
"Making it seem like you've started back home," I said, catching on. Shannon watched Mustang carefully.

"They're going to keep coming after us. You too as long as you help us," Pacifica said sadly.

"We just need to take them out," I reiterated. Shannon rolled his eyes.

"Without Zepheris, there's no hope of that happening, and for some reason, she can't help here."

Ah. "She can't help, here," I said. Shannon started to nod, the opened his mouth slightly.

"Just what are you suggesting?"  
"We go back to your territory," I explained. "I don't want to drag this into other countries that are already on pretty bad terms with Amistris."

Pacifica looked up at Shannon.

"I mean, they're going to come after you one way or another, right?"

"That's going to be hard if we're being 'spotted' in other towns," Shannon said, looking back at Mustang. Instead of answering, Mustang turned to Havoc, Fury and Breda. At once, they nodded and walked away.

"Want to fill the rest of us in?" I asked loudly, signaling to everyone else who had watched the exchange.

"They will be in charge of the sightings." He smirked. "They can be quite apt at wearing costumes."

I opened my mouth to comment, but thought better of it.

"So they are going to go around posing as us?" Pacifica asked, looking after the three as they walked away.

I was amazed. One look from Mustang, and they knew what to do, just like that. He must have talked about the possibility with them at another time. Possibly while I was knocked out. In any case, at least Pacifica's spirits seemed to be up.

"So we're going home?" Pacifica's voice seemed happy, yet at the same time, troubled.

Shannon sighed. He was clearly thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

"Something like that," I answered for him. "Since we can't fight the Peacemakers here, we're going to do it on your turf. I'm sure you have other allies there too?"

The three of them shared a look, and finally Raquel shook her head. "Not really, no. It's always been just us."

"What about Leo?" Pacifica suggested. Shannon shot her a look and Raquel appeared to be thinking of the right thing to say.

"Anyone that can help," I told her. "After seeing what these things can do first hand, we need everyone."

Pacifica nodded happily and clapped her hands. "We can look him up once we get there!" Shannon started to protest, when Mustang walked up to him and whispered something, causing his eyes to go wide for a moment before settling into his normal glare. He then nodded. Only then did Mustang walk away, a smirk on his face.

"We should set out as soon as possible," he announced. "Get a head start." He turned to me. "Get a hold of anyone else you can."

I nodded, thinking of Teacher. "On the way through, I should probably stop at my mechanic's." All this cold wasn't very good on my automail, mainly where it connected. Heh. Winry was going to have my head for coming back so soon for a tune-up, but since I didn't want it breaking down in the middle of the big fight, this was the only way.

"Good," Mustang said. He pointed to Shannon. "We're splitting you up. Better for staying unnoticed if we don't stay in one large group. We'll need to get you new clothes too. First Lieutenant."

Hawkeye stepped up. "Sir."

"Get Shannon something to wear. He's coming with us."

"What?" Shannon pulled back, his dislike clear on his face. I don't blame him. The last person I'd want to travel across Amistris with is Mustang.

"Raquel, you'll be joining us as well," Hawkeye said sternly, "but will be going with someone once we meet up with someone else."

"You called others?" I asked Mustang. When did he have time to do that?

Mustang looked at me and raised an eyebrow as if to ask if I was serious. Of course. Of course Mustang would have backups in other towns, ready to do whatever he wished in an instant.

Pacifica looked around and pointed a finger up at herself. "And me?"

Mustang turned towards Hawkeye to talk plans over with her.

"Nooo," I started to say. Mustang ignored me. "No, Colonel." I didn't want her with us. She'd get lazy and whiny again, and probably invade Al again.

"Looks like I'm with you!" Pacifica said happily, having not heard my protests.  
"This'll be fun, right?"

I fought against the scowl that had been about to form. "This isn't a field trip," I told her. Pacifica scrunched her face up and folded her arms across her chest in a pout. Rolling my eyes, I turned away from them all.

"Let's go."

"Wait," Shannon called out. "I don't like this. Being split up like that."

"I'm certain your sister will be alright," Mustang said. He snickered. "I'm sure that if worst comes to worst, she can hide inside Alphonse."

I almost tackled the ass for that comment. "Don't put the idea in her head again!" I hissed, glaring daggers at him. He only smirked and turned away.

_

* * *

A/N: One more chapter, and it's more of an epilogue, or a "setup" if you will for part 2. Assuming there will be a part two. R&R please!_  
_~*Figurine889_


	11. Chapter 11 Preparing to Journey

**Song of the Alchemist**  
A Fullmetal Alchemist/Scrapped Princess crossover fanfic

_Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Scrapped Princess or Fullmetal Alchemist. This is mearly a "what if" situation, written for entertainment purposes (mainly my own), and if you think otherwise, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this story at all._

Chapter 11: Preparing to Journey

"What are you doing back so soon?" Winry asked once she opened the door. It was pouring outside, and we had to walk through it all the way from the train station. To make maters worse, Pacifica, who hadn't wanted to get wet, had once again crawled inside Al. At least she hadn't taken control of his movements. Yet.

"I just need a tune-up," I told her with a sigh. She moved to the side and ushered us in and led us to the table to sit, where Pinako was working on another automail leg. "Some stuff came up and it has to be in the best shape." I avoided her eyes here, knowing that if we contacted, she would ask "what kind of stuff", and I hate lying to Winry. I've done it plenty of times, but it doesn't feel any better each time.

"Hey!" Pacifica's voice echoed through Al's armor. "Let me out now!"

"You got yourself in there," I told her.

"Brother!" Al chastised as he started unhooking his breastplate.

"Ahhh..." she sighed as soon as she was out of the stuffy armor. "I don't know how you do it Al. I'd kill myself if I had to stay in that armor all the time."

Winry gripped the back of a chair and glared at Pacifica. "How dare you! It wasn't his choice!"

"I'm sorry!" she quickly said, though she didn't sound sorry at all.

"It's alright Pacifica," Al said before it could turn into an all-out brawl. "It doesn't bother me!"

I looked away from the others and took off my dripping jacket. "Can we make this quick? We have to get back on the road."

Winry heard the sad tone in my voice and nodded. "Yeah. Of course. If it's just a check up, you could probably be out of here by tomorrow morning."

"Great."

Pacifica glued herself to Winry's side again, and insisted on watching her work on my arm and leg. It was obvious she didn't care for the mechanics part, so much as that Winry was a girl her age. I had learned from Raquel that they didn't meet many people like that, and every time they did, Pacifica exhibited the same behavior she was here.

I managed to convince Winry that she didn't have to remove my arm and leg to look at them, so I stretched out on my stomach on one of the beds while she looked at my arm and Granny looked at my leg.

"Goodness Edward," Granny said around her pipe. "Where have you been?"

I twisted my head to look at her face. Failing at that, I resolved to resting my head on the pillow. "North," I answered simply.

"It was freezing," Pacifica complained. "Honestly. They couldn't have taken us somewhere a little warmer?"

"I never heard your brother complaining," I mumbled.

"That's because I'm sure Shannon isn't human," she said seriously.

The room was silent.

"That was a joke! Jeeze!" I heard her huff and imagined her folding her arms again in agitation. I understand the whole "looking-after-your-sibling-thing". Really, I do, but I'm amazed Shannon stayed with her this long. Not that I'd tell her that.

"So Winry," she continued, apparently deciding to start a new conversation, "you do this all day? Just work on this automail stuff?"

I could hear the pride in Winry's voice when she answered "yeah!"

Pacifica sighed. "Then what do you do for fun?"

The clinking in my arm stopped. I turned my head to look at Winry, who was staring at Pacifica.

"This," she answered seriously. "This is what I do for fun."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pacifica look around the room at all of the mechanical parts scattered on the various shelves and tables.

"This is it?" she asked innocently.

Uh-oh.

"What do you mean 'this is it'? Automail is fantastic! The creak of the metals, the smell of the oils! And you say 'this is it'!"

"Automail otaku," I mumbled low so she couldn't hear.

Pacifica put her hands up defensively. "I'm sorry! Wow. I guess everyone is into something..." She shook her head. "With Shannon it was swords, with Raquel it was magic."

"What about you?" Winry asked, calmed significantly.

Now Pacifica stared at Winry. "What?"

"You're right," she explained, "when you say that everyone has something. With Ed and Al here it's alchemy, me, it's automail. You said yourself what Shannon's and Raquel's passions were. So what's yours?"

Pacifica continued to stare. "I guess I never really thought about it. Before we left home, I always fought with this chicken we had for her eggs." She laughed at the memory. "I never managed to get one until we were planning to leave."

Winry blinked. "So...eggs then?"

Pacifica's eyes lit up. "I guess so! I loooooove eggs!" She laughed and clapped her hands. "Great!"

I looked at Winry and smiled. What could have turned into a disastrous event, she managed to avoid. She was good with Pacifica.

"You don't have to leave so early you know," Granny said as we headed for the door.

"Yes, we do," I said as I ushered a pouting Pacifica out the door. She was upset because last night, while she was sleeping, I had alchemized Al's armor shut so she couldn't get in anywhere. Al was still able to move, though he was slowed a little bit (I was sure he'd still be able to outrun me though).

"Well, alright. Make sure you stop by again."

"Granny," Al said as he approached the door. "Where's Winry?"

She looked towards one of the back rooms that led to the stairs. "She's awake, though I'm not sure what she's up to. I heard her running around upstairs."

"It's fine," I said, pushing Al to the door. We really needed to get going. The sun hadn't started to show itself yet, but already we were losing daylight.

The three of us started heading down the dirt path that led to town. It was a quite trip, making me think I should piss Pacifica off more often. Made traveling with her a little better.

"Edward!" yelled a voice behind us.

I turned around, and saw Winry running towards us, lugging a big case. I ran to meet her halfway.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, pointing to the case she set on the ground beside her.

"Here," she said, waving a hand to the case. "Spare parts for your automail." She looked at me sadly. "You didn't say where you were going, but I could tell you would need these. Why else would you stop by for a check-up? You usually wait until it's completely destroyed to visit."

I looked down at the case. It was almost as big as I was. "You can't expect me to carry that."

She smiled. "Oh. Is that so?" She nodded. "Yeah. I suppose it is a little unreasonable. You probably wouldn't know what to do with half of these parts," she laughed. "I guess I'll just have to go with you."

"Yeah," I laughed, thinking she was joking. She continued to smile. "Wait, you're serious? No way Winry. Not this time."

He smile dropped a bit. "Come on Ed. I know you're going to need the help."

I shook my head. "No. This is too dangerous."

She folded her arms. "And then what are you going to do when you inevitably break your arm or leg? Huh? You'll be wishing I'd been there."

I shook my head again, finalizing myself. Then I turned and started to walk to back to town.

"Fine!" she called after us. "Well, I'll just have to follow you then!"

I stopped and spun around, glaring. "No Winry."

She picked up her case and started to walk past us. "You can't stop me."

An instant later, I had a tall wall of dirt blocking her path. Pacifica glared at me and ran to help Winry, who had dropped her case in surprise.

"Come on Winry!" she said happily. "I'll help you!" She shot another glare at me, before helping Winry grab the case and go around the wall. Al looked down at me and ran after them loudly.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes, deciding if I really wanted to fight it or not. On one hand, it would be a good plan to have her down there incase my automail broke, which she kindly pointed out, had to be inevitable. On the other though, the Peacemakers weren't somebody to screw with. We couldn't take any chances with them. I couldn't worry about her while in the middle of the battle.

I ran after them, sighing. I could always leave her in some town. I'm sure she could find something to entertain herself.

Wait. Hadn't Shannon, Raquel and Pacifica been awed by the automail? That meant that they couldn't find it down there. Perfect then. Winry would get down there, see the serious lack of automail mechanics and want to go home. I would escort her to the border myself if necessary. Yeah. That was a great plan.

"Come on, slowpoke," Pacifica yelled back to me.

"Yeah Ed, let's get a move on! Aren't you the one who was in such a hurry?" Winry laughed loudly with Pacifica.

Oh yeah. This was going to be a fantastic journey.

* * *

_A/N: There it is! The final chapter! Please review, and share the story with your friends and tell them to review! I'd like to go on to finish part two, but I can only do it with your help! This is my first chapter story, and the first crossover that I've put quite a bit of time and thought into (this one was actually written before my Case Closed/Kingdom Hearts crossover), and if you have any tips at all on how I can improve my style, please tell me. Having this from Ed's point of veiw is also very hard, as writting in first person seriously limits on what you can actually put in the story and still have it be good. First person in a fanfic is also a first for me. If you have any tips on that front, please tell me! Finally, if I could get the name of some towns in Pacifica's world (even the country's name), that would be great. It's been way too long since I've watched it and I don't have the time to sit down with a notepad and watch the show again (besides, that would just discourage me from writting any more-i've too many forgotten fanfics because I did just that)._  
_Sorry for ranting, and don't forget to review!_  
_~*Figurine889_


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